It’s lonely at the top, or so Lamborghini would like us all to believe. In conclusion to Lamborghini’s 50th year celebrations, the Italian manufacturer unveiled the Egoista concept, which literally translates to “selfish” in Italian. Why is it named so? Well, because it only has one seat, that’s why.
The Egoista is very futuristically designed with one seat in the middle of the cockpit and is inspired by an Apache helicopter. Reports suggest that the extremely lightweight car is made entirely out of carbon fibre and the cockpit canopy may be removed to save weight. Power comes from a 5.2-litre V10 engine.
Designer Walter De Silva had this to say about the car, translated from Italian:
This is a car made for a single person, to have fun and to express their own personality. It is designed for people who want the most extreme and most special things in the world. This car represents extremes of hedonism; it is a car without compromise. In a word, it is selfish.
Some of the 350 Lamborghinis gathered at Sant’Agata Bolognese as part of the celebrations
The Egoista was revealed by brand boss Stephan Winkelmann at a dinner held to mark the end of the week-long drive by 350 Lamborghinis through Italy, organised in celebration of the marque’s 50th birthday. Another dramatic announcement was made at the ceremony, about the Lamborghini Urus SUV Concept going into production in 2017.
Lamborghini Urus Concept
At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, the truly extreme Lamborghini Veneno was revealed as an initial part of the firm’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Three examples of the 740bhp, 221mph road-going racer were sold for around £2 million each.
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Full Time Review Writer: (Positions Open : 2) : If you have worked with tech before, then we want you to work with us. Experience with reviews is a must, appropriate knowledge and a good sense of humor comes together. Needless to say Written and spoken english needs to be perfect for written and video reviews.
Remote Coverage (Positions Open : 3) : A lot of people write to us wanting a job, well here is your chance. If you cant come into the office, then we can have you write from home. The work is still the same, News coverage and original articles. Again needless to say, proficiency in english and a flair for writing is a must.
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Saavn, the popular Indian music streaming service, which boasts of about 10 million users globally, is all set to introduce an international music catalogue. The Music streaming service is planning to introduce English music early this summer, which will add to its existing collection of Bollywood, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Kannada, and Bengali songs.
This decision comes in the wake of the global reach of the app, and numerous feedback from the users. The Company also mentioned that out of its total global usage, 50 percent comes from iOS devices, while in India, over 60 percent comes from Android devices.
Saavn is working on a new feature called Celebrity Playlists, and Saavn V.I.P. which will put celebrities front and center.
Recently, Saavn has partnered with Shazam, a prominent music identification service, and as a part of the deal, Saavn’s music library was incorporated into Shazam’s database, allowing users to discover and tag latest Indian music and then listen to the song live on Saavn (mobile app). The partnership also allowed the users to share the music on various social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Saavn has incorporated many new features in the app, allowing users to create and save their own playlists and radio stations with their favorite songs. The service also allows the users to listen to the top 15 songs of the week. Using their existing Saavn account, users can access their starred songs, saved playlists, and radio stations.
Saavn is currently an aggregator and tracks live time the usage patterns of listeners and users, understanding their needs and their music listening behavior. This in the future could help to company give live time suggestions and playlist recommendations to listeners. For. eg. Considering you are driving back from work and listen to you driving playlist, the app could recognize this behavior and recommend you this playlist bast on you location movement or time of day. The company currently has no plans to integrate data into a useful feature like the above , but said that they will constantly evolve to provide better service to users.
The music streaming app is available on iOS, Android and Java platforms, where it can be downloaded for free.
Micromax has recently taken the budget smart phone market with their Canvas Series in India. The Micromax A115 Canvas 3D is another addition to the lineup. Cheaper than the Canvas 2 at launch, the Canvas 3D adds a 3D Stereoscopic Display into the mix. Lets see how it fares out in our full review.
Display in 2D mode
Build Quality and Design
The Canvas series of phones including the Canvas 2 and Canvas HD are nicely built phones from Micromax. The Micromax A115 Canvas 3D takes it one step ahead. The back of the device is now coated with a soft touch material that makes the phone seem more robust and easy to handle. While the whole chassis is made of plastic it is able to withstand a couple of drops and high intensity jerks.
In terms of design the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D will be easily spotted from a distance, the unique build and design will also set it apart for those who want slightly premium looking phones. The ID of the phone resembles more HTC devices vs their previous obsession with Samsung Design. The phone does not appear to be the strongest phone at this time or even price, however it is well-built , looks and feels good in the hand.
The insides are laden with the previous-gen Mediatek 6577 chipset, which in terms of performance lacks behind, in comparison to many of the other devices available at a slightly higher price. Inbuilt storage remains at 4 GB, but the minute you insert a micro SD card the internal storage combines with the card enabling up to 34GB of capacity (32GB card + 2GB onboard). The RAM on the Canvas 3D is lower than required at 512 MB and you will see the grunt of it during gaming and application usage.
The Micromax A115 Canvas 3D’s name comes from the 5 inch 480 x 800 px Glasses-Free Stereoscopic 3D display, which turns on in certain applications including the 3D YouTube videos, certain apps from the 3D HUB and Picture preview. The camera is a 5 MP camera that combines two individually clicked images to make a 3D image, unlike other 3D phones which have dual sensors.
The power source is a 2000 mAh battery pack and is capable enough, read the battery section below.
3D Mode
Micromax A115 Canvas 3D and its Use
[pullquote_left]Economies of Scale vs Economies of Fail[/pullquote_left] So, a 3D display in a budget phone, what does that mean? Essentially, there are only two ways a technology becomes cheaper. One; if a tech has reached its saturation point, and enough development and numbers produced to make the process work for it, to make it cheaper (Economies of Scale). Two; if the technology was not successful to begin with and the stocks and design frameworks liquidate (Economies of Fail?). Well, Glasses Free 3D on mobile phone may as well be a part of the latter, while many companies including LG and HTC tried to make Glasses Free 3D phones. They were just not appreciated by the world, and eventually that technology thrown out. Nintendo used the Glasses Free 3D on their portable gaming console and that just did wonderfully well. The fact remains that the 3D technology is still at far from becoming mainstream, simply because it just does not look that good.
So thanks to the effect of expensive phones with this technology not being successful, the technology became cheaper, cheap enough to get fitted inside an under Rs. 10,000 phone for users to enjoy 3D content. Unfortunately there is no ALL time 3D switch , or any form of 2D to 3D conversion engine.
The content on 3D is also decent enough and enjoyed once in a while, and not all the time. So at the end it only plays to the fact that you have 3D in your phone, but you will not use it a lot.
Camera and Multimedia
The camera on the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D is a Fixed Focus 5 MP camera, that has a software ability to capture 3D images. Unlike standard 3D cameras which have two lenses, the Lens on the Micromax Canvas 3D utilizes time shift and user movement to capture a 3D image. The images are half decent and truly may not pass off as 3D images, unless the user is professionally focusing on the angle and the distance of the shot from the first click. Video shot is also poor quality, and is not shot in 3D mode. You do not have auto focus or tap to focus what so ever, the phone does recalibrate white balance and ISO for every picture taken.
Multimedia performance is good, you can enjoy 3D content on the Micromax Canvas 3D without the need of glasses. The viewing angles improve once in 2D mode, but are not great in 3D mode. The Micromax A115 Canvas 3D also has good sounding audio from the main speaker as well as through headphones.
Basic UI navigation within the interface was fast and fluid, we did face a bit of lag and it seemed that the phone held back when it came to performance. While the Canvas 2 did really well for Micromax, the Canvas 3D has the same performance only reduced by the 3D display’s punch of the graphics card.
In the case of the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D, almost all games are downloadable and installable thanks to the storage on memory card option. But, even though the phone can download, install and run almost all games, only basic games will work perfectly on this phone. The Canvas 3D does not have the capability of performing in games like NOVA 3 and Modern Combat 4, simply because of the lack of power under the hood. See out Gaming Video below.
The UI remains mostly vanilla, with only the addition of basic things like quick toggles in the notification panel, and custom apps and icons. Every other UI element looks and performs vanilla with the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS, which comes as stock on the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D.
Phone call quality remained good throughout, with little or no dropped calls keeping the network strength in the high range. While the microphone and earpiece are great to use the Speakerphone is not as loud as some would expect.
Switching b/w Sim cards maybe still a problem, since both SIM slots don’t support 3G outright, only one fixed slot will run 3G at a time, creating issues in low or no network areas for that sim. You will get stuck on 2G or no data network on both sim cards.
Battery life
The Micromax A115 Canvas 3D has varied battery life as we demonstrate below, in normal usage the phone lasted a good 5-6 hours on talk time, add any online access etc., the battery life for talk time drops to just 3 hours.
[tabgroup]
[tab title=”Battery Life with 3G ON” icon=”icon-headphones”]Talk time : 5 Hours Standby : 48 Hours Gaming : 2-3 Online : 5 hours Music 7 hours[/tab]
[tab title=”Battery Life with 3G OFF” icon=”icon-headphones”]Talk time : 6 Hours Standby : 54 Hours Gaming : 3 Online : 5 hours Music 7 hours[/tab]
[/tabgroup]
Conclusion
While The Micromax Canvas 3D brings to the market which no other company is offering in the price bracket, one truly needs to understand the give and take for it. Does one really need the 3D feature? why not. If you are getting the same performance like other products in the price bracket and yet you get additional features, why would you refuse. For the sake of the argument, the A115 is as good as the A110 but with 3D powers.
If you want performance and gaming capabilities, you should seriously reconsider your price bracket, No, you cannot get a Samsung Galaxy S4 replacement in Rs. 10,000 not yet anyway.
More than anything the Micromax A115 Canvas 3D gives you yet another option in this wide array of phones in the market. If you were considering the A110 the A115 is another option to consider. In Our opinion Micromax has held back on their hardware capabilities and should have used the newer Mediatek Chipset instead of the outdated underpowered MTK 6577.
While the automotive world is still enamoured with the Jaguar F-Type roadster, the Indian-owned British manufacturer is busy preparing for the F-Type coupe’s expected launch next year. The F-Type coupe was spotted for the first time testing outside the firm’s HQ in Gaydon. Although dressed in heavy camouflage and a black roof, there was no mistaking it for anything other the hard-top version of Jaguar’s stunning convertible.
The coupe’s looks are almost identical to the C-X16 concept, which originally launched the idea for Jaguar’s new F-Type convertible. The on-road testing can only mean that the car should be launched within the next 12-18 months. The F-type coupe is expected to be powered by the same V6, V6 S and V8 S engines as the drop-top versions. Reports also claim that it will be the base for faster R and RS versions as well as a very extreme 600 bhp RS-GT street legal racing version.
Jaguar insiders say that the unusual decision to launch the roadster first was taken because it was perceived to have a large market and deliver a better image for the firm’s halo model. But in our honest opinion, the hard-top F-Type will look just as gorgeous as the convertible, if not more.
Chevrolet has launched its first MPV model in India. It’s called the Enjoy and it will set you back between Rs. 5.49 lakh to Rs. 7.99 lakh. The compact SUV and MPV segment has really picked up in India of late, with the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Toyota Innova enjoying runaway success and the Ford EcoSport hitting the Indian market in the summer this year. The Enjoy is Chevrolet’s hope to give the Ertiga competition, and at first glance it seems more than capable of doing just that.
The Enjoy is available with both petrol and diesel engines. The petrol engine is a 1.4-litre unit putting out 103 bhp and 13.25 kgm of torque while the 1.3-litre diesel unit produces 76 bhp and 19.17 kgm of torque. Both engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
The Chevrolet Enjoy has very spacious interiors which can seat 7 or 8 people depending on whether the middle row has a bench seat or captain seats. It comes with simple but comfortable interiors offering power steering, power windows, stereo and air conditioning. Safety features include anti-lock brakes, electronic brake force distribution and dual front airbags. With a straightforward design, the Chevrolet Enjoy surely won’t blow anyone away, but it ticks all the right boxes considering what one would want from an affordable and spacious entry-level MPV, and should ‘Enjoy’ its fair bit of success.
Jaguar is planning on bringing its new convertible supercar, the F-Type, to India in July this year. Creating waves around the automotive world, the E-Type’s spiritual successor is trying to head Jaguar in a new and refreshing direction. Breaking from the tradition of building elegant, luxurious sedans, Jaguar is trying to carve out its place in the sports car segment with the svelte and feline F-Type, promising supercar performance with gorgeous looks.
The F-Type will reportedly be launched in India in two variants. The F-Type S has a 3.0-litre supercharged V6 under the hood producing 375 bhp and 460 Nm of torque. It can get the F-Type from 0-97 kmph in 4.8 seconds and on to a top speed of 275 kmph. The top of the line F-Type V8 S has a massive 5.0-litre supercharged V8 power plant under the hood producing 488 bhp and a tire-shredding 625 Nm of torque. This translates from nought to 100 kmph in 4.3 seconds and on to a 300 kmph top speed. Both models have the engines at the front sending all the power to the rear wheels, and are mated to 8-speed automatic transmissions with paddle-shifters offering manual override. The V6 employs a mechanical limited-slip differential and the V8 an electronic limited-slip differential to manage the F-Type’s raw power most efficiently. The F-Type has a double-wishbone front and rear suspension with adaptive dampers and adjustable suspension settings to allow the driver to tweak ride and handling.
Image Courtesy: Top Gear
The first thing that strikes you about the F-Type however, is surely the way it looks. The F-Type is almost identical to the C-X16 Concept and that’s a good thing because it looks stunning. Beautifully proportioned and quite compact, the F-Type has done away with the oval front grille. The shark gill openings on either flank of the new grille are very modern and give it an edge. The shape of the hood and the taillights resemble those of the iconic Jaguar E-Type. The rear diffuser and integrated tail pipes (dual on the V6, quad on the V8) add to the aggressive looks but with plenty of elegance. A hidden spoiler pops out at speeds over 90 kmph and goes into hiding when speed drops below 60 kmph. The F-Type is built with extreme care and quality, and the interior is very luxurious and tasteful, typical of Jaguar.
There’s no doubt that the F-Type looks the part, and goes like it too. However, it’s expected to lighten your wallet by Rs. 1.3-1.5 crore, and in a highly competitive sports car segment, it remains to be seen if the Jag can hold its own among traditional supercar giants such as the Porsche 911, the Audi R8 and the Aston Martin Vantage. We’ll surely find out in the months to come. Meanwhile, check out some pictures of the F-Type below, as seen by iGyaan at the 2013 New York Auto Show.
Samsung has just announced the Galaxy Grand Quattro also known as the Galaxy Win in other markets. This smart phone is a retake on the Galaxy Grand adding a few things and removing a few.
The packaging is minimal suggesting towards the lower end spectrum for Samsung but also infusing their new less paper (eco-friendly) model they suggested during the launch of the Galaxy S4. Listed below are the box contents:
Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro / Win Handset
2000 mAh Battery
USB charging cable
USB wall adapter
Documentation
In-ear earphones with additional tips.
Hardware
There are a bunch of differences in the Galaxy Grand Quattro, starting with a smaller 4.7 inch 480 x 800 px display, which bumps up the ppi to 199 ppi. The chipset on the inside is now a Qualcomm MSM8625Q Snapdragon 200 quad-core 1.2 GHz chipset, along with an Adreno 203 GPU.
The rear camera and the front camera have also been downgraded to 5 MP and VGA from 8MP and 2.1 MP respectively. Inside however we still have 8GB of storage (5GB + is available to the user) and 1 GB of RAM.
Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro I8552 Initial impressions
The build quality is along the lines of the Galaxy Grand, composed of 100% plastic build including the back panel and the bezel. The Galaxy Grand Quattro has a significantly smaller footprint thanks to the smaller screen size. The phone also weighs less and fits comfortably in the hand of the user.
The interface reminds us of many of the recent Samsung launches all showing of similar Touch-Wiz and Android 4.1.2 functionality. The Galaxy Grand Quattro / Win however, does not carry the smart features seen on the Galaxy Grand, No Multi Window toolbar, no S-Voice and No Pop-Up-Play. Which could nullify the proposition for a lot of buyers. The Smaller screen is definitely more crisp and is evident in the first impression. Video playback is smooth even though we felt a bit of lag in the Internet browser.
The keyboard is as fast as ever and retains the continuos input option, along with all of the Samsung customizations for its keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro / Win is a promising upgrade to the Galaxy Grand, it removes a lot of software and hardware features, but, does two interesting things, Adds a quad-core Processor and drops the price by about Rs. 2500 or US $ 50.
Apple is constantly trying to end all relationships with Smartphone manufacturer Samsung, including the supply for most of the parts for iPhones. According to reports Apple is trying to move production of Apple chipsets to TSMC for the next generation of iPhones.
This will be a huge loss of revenue for the production division for Samsung, leaving out key investment into their chip making business, making innovation of next generation chipsets extremely expensive for the Korean company.
Another confirmation to this report is the fact that TSMC has significantly increased the production capacity of its plants hinting at an expected increase in orders.
Samsung will however continue to make chipsets for this years iPhone devices will be announced later this year.
With a flurry of additions to its lineup at the Shanghai Motor Show, Honda is planning on launching some of its new models in India soon. The successful launch of the Amaze shows the Japanese manufacturer’s new direction. Earlier, Honda would stick to a few specific segments and churn out model after model pertaining to the same. However now, Honda is venturing into many new segments and the new Crider is a case in point.
Honda Crider
The Crider is the production version of the Honda Concept C, and is the rare occasion when a production model ends up looking similar to its concept. Smaller than the Accord, and dimensionally similar to the Civic, it aims to spawn a new segment to take on upcoming markets. The sharp lines on the muscular shell house a 4 cylinder 1.8-litre iVTEC engine producing 140 bhp.
Honda M-01 Concept
Honda is mulling a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle. And we are, at this moment, studying the market whether we have to launch it or not…
– Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Honda Cars India
Along with the Crider, Honda unveiled two MPV concepts at the Shanghai Motor Show, namely the Jade and the M-01. The M-01 is a full-size MPV, dimensionally similar to a Toyota Innova. The concept’s styling is not groundbreaking but looks fairly nice with smooth flowing lines and a strong, poised profile. The M-01 should come with diesel engines and a variety of seating options and an expectedly subtler design.
Honda Jade Concept
The second of the MPVs, called the Jade, is much more compact and borrows its styling from the Civic. It does look rather interesting, and seeing its length and low profile, it could perfectly fit into the almost defunct station wagon segment in India. With compact SUVs and MPVs like the Quanto and Ertiga doing rather well, Honda seems to have made a rather good move here. Not much information has been released about the three new models from the Jap manufacturer, keep checking this space for updates.
Earlier leaked images of the 2014 Mercedes S class showed of the extensive use of LED lighting and the extremely plush interiors. We now know that the 2014 Mercedes S class will make its official debut on May 15th will have electronically reclining rear seats, and radical new exterior. The new entertainment system will also control the massaging seats for the rear passengers.
The steering wheel of the 2014 Mercedes S class will also have access to the full setup of controls, right from the drivers fingertips.
Reclining Rear Seats
New LED Light Cluster and Front Design LED Rear Cluster
Rumors that Audi is working on the A9 have been around for quite some time, but it looks like the German Auto giant is readying production to make available the car for 2016 launch. German auto-motor-und-sport reports that the car will be based on the next generation Q7 platform and will take its styling cues from A7 and form a complete new segment.
This will result in better handling, suspension and Stainless Steel undercarriage, making the vehicle excellent for countries like India, where Audi is selling extremely well. It is likely that the car will be offered with a selection of engines including a V8 powerplant pumping out at least 500hp. The 2016 Audi A9 could debut with a semi-autonomous driving system which can drive and park the car without any inputs needed from the driver.
The new Audi A9 will supposedly be 5 meter long and will come with a 4WD option from the beginning of Sale se in early 2016.
