Saturday I visited the UniverCell Showroom at Causeway, Mumbai with a friend. As we entered the store, I felt something different. It was not the usual get-in-get-out feeling. As we entered the store, we felt a warm welcoming gesture from the from the personnel and (as metaphoric as it may sound) from the store by itself.
I met an executive of the store, who in spite in his busy hour, greeted us and asked us to spend as much time as we needed in the store. Other executives were helpful too.
For me, entering an appliance retail store is like a kid entering a toy store. I can never get enough of it. I wanted to scan through each and every department and every appliance displayed in the store. Surprisingly, my friend (who is not so much of a technology person) also seemed quite interested in the gadgets I was showing her. That's when I realized how important hospitality and planning actually is. It actually makes a total "technology virgin" (pardon me those who are) interested in it. The Store's ambience and aura attracted not only my friend but many others.
Speaking of the Hospitality, The executives and sales persons were courteous and gentle in their approach. They were good with their words and did put forth their helping hand when the customer seems to be in a dilemma. Every person in the store was aware of all information about the department they were handling. I can say this since I have a bad habit of testing people's knowledge about technology, specially of the people closely associated with it. Not only did they help, but they made suggestions about a better product based on your needs. This depicts that the personnel working there is well trained.
Also to mention that all the devices are very competitively priced. It is accessible to almost every class of consumer and is definitely a better alternative than other stores.
Not only is this a gadget store, it is a one stop solution to all your needs. With that note, it is apt to say that the overall experience of the store has been extraordinary. I was more than satisfied with the service provided at the store and would surely recommend it to others.
This post is written exclusively for Indiblogger's UniverCell Sync Contest.
LG's G Watch was one of the first
Android Wear devices to hit the market, but it didn't quite capture the fancy
of the buying public the way the beautiful, round Moto 360 did. So LG
went back to work, and came up with a beautiful, round smartwatch of
its own. Meet the G Watch R.
LG has finally verified that round displays on
smartwatches are real. They're "a thing." The Moto 360isn't a one-off; the industry has officially figured out how to
deliver round wearables, and it's going to do so on a measurable scale. But there
is still an issue.
The G Watch R's key feature is its display, a
1.3-inch Plastic OLED panel that takes up 100 percent of the watch's round
face. LG promises that it's viewable in sunlight and clear from any angle, and
the plastic also comes with some durability benefits — the G Watch R works in
up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes. The screen rests in a stainless
steel frame, and comes with an interchangeable calf skin leather strap. This
device looks perhaps more like a normal analog watch than any other we've seen
before, including the Moto 360.
Of
course, it's not an analog watch. It's poweredby Android Wear, meaning it offers the same Google Now-based
experience we've seen on a couple of devices so far. You'll get notifications,
easy access to notes and calendar and directions, and more. It's powered by a
1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and 512MB of RAM, plus 4GB of internal storage. It
has a heart-rate monitor, unlike the G Watch, plus a handful of health and
fitness apps that should make the G Watch R a little more useful as a fitness
tracker. Still, from a functionality standpoint the devices don't differ much.
It's all about the hardware — and the hardware makes all the difference.
Where
the G Watch is bland and square — not badly designed so much as simply not
designed at all — the G Watch R has a lovely sense of sophistication to
it. Part of that is also due to the retro-analog watchfaces, which show
sweeping second hands and a set of internal dials that look right at home in a
classic watch. There's even a crown on the side, which is likely the power
button in disguise. (The G Watch's mysteriously missing power button appears to
have been rectified.)
Count
on this being a trend this year: smartwatch makers will churn these devices out
as fast as they can, attempting to satisfy as many tastes as possible and to
learn as quickly as possible what works for consumers. Things will change
quickly, but right now, it's hip to be round.
However, there is still a big question in
consumers´ mind. And that is;
SMART WATCHES STILL DON´T LOOK THAT GREAT
I
can't overstate how important that is. Smartwatch adoption is held back
primarily by two things: one, it's hard to convince people that they need
notifications on their wrist. That's an ongoing challenge, and the ball now lies in Apple's courtto see if the industry is
ready and able to turn that corner. But secondly, smartwatchesstill just don't look
that great. It's a complaint I've been lodging since before the launch of
Samsung's original Galaxy Gear last year. Even the best-looking ones are
compromised.
FASHION FIRST
That's not to say a wrist-worn device must
have a round face to look good, of course, but it can't look like a physical
manifestation of high technology — it has to put fashion first, because it's
always visible. You can hide a smartphone in your pocket or purse when it's not
in use, but wearables have to ascribe to the same rules of design as a shirt,
shoe, or hat. (Imagine how many more Google Glass would be sold if they were
indistinguishable from regular sunglasses or eyeglasses.) The round face, an
iconic element of the classic wristwatch, is a huge leap in that direction.
ANALOG WATCH HANDS ARN´T DEAD
But it's only a leap, not the finish line.
Multiple industry sources have indicated to me that manufacturers are
aggressively pursuing display technologies that would make smartwatches
virtually indistinguishable from a 30-year-old Timex or Tag Heuer without
sacrificing functionality. Analog watch hands aren't dead: consider a round,
full-color display with hands above, or a transparent OLED
with hands underneath, for instance. The
technology is close, and designers are fully aware that they need to get there.
And for smartwatches, that's the dream: once
engineers figure out how to seamlessly walk us back to analog, they'll be able
to replicate the full spectrum of designs found in traditional wristwatches.
Obviously analog hands aren't for everyone, but then you'll be able to choose
something more akin to a Moto 360 or G Watch R, or even a rectangular display
if that's more your style. That variety is a wonderful thing. It's a
celebration of form factor diversity that we've lost with smartphones in the
age of the glass rectangle — but thankfully we won't have to lose it with the
wearable.
Samsung´s galaxy gear series has already been manhandled for a while now and now its time to do the same with the latest device running google´s operating system Android Wear, the Motorola Moto 360. Android Wear is the OS launched by Google to with wearable devices like the Motorola Moto 360, the LG G watch and Samsung´s Gear Live. This the first smartwatch to have a circular design which in itself is drool worthy. I may sound a bit rude here but Samsung´s Gear smart watches look ugly when you compare them with this beautiful smartwatch. The first round round-faced Android Wear is just great looking. The Moto 360 looks just like a regular watch.
Image Credit: Google Images
It is a bit on the thick side but is lightweight and comfortable to wear. It will be available in a soft genuine leather straps and also in metal bands. The Moto 360 strikes a stunning pose on your wrist and, particularly in stainless steel garb. The fit and finish of the device is top notch.
The
chamfered edges of both the glass covering the screen and that metal housing
give it a luxurious look and feel, and the thick, split leather strap is
premium, too. A bit of design
flair has the added benefit of showing off the circular display to the fullest
-- looking closely reveals that pixels are packed from edge to edge, no cutting
corners or bezels.
The Moto 360 has almost the same UI as we usually see in Google Now. Swiping around the UI (up/down to change cards, right/left to dive deeper into them) is super fast and smooth.
Image Credit: Google Images
By default, the screen is off, but when you raise your wrist in the standard check-the-time gesture, the screen lights up. Hopefully that will result in some battery-saving. The screen looked very nice and was easy to read. We're assuming that it too was an AMOLED screen because the blacks were super-deep, and that would make sense for power-savings.
One can make the UI look like a real watch, with multiple dial options to choose from, It seems the watch may be monitor fitness amongst other features like, weather updates, GPS navigation, reminders, reading a Hangout message, watching the caller ID or even accepting or declining calls from the watch itself. From the hardware it looks like this smartwatch will only support wireless charging as there is not input source to plug in a wire into the watch. It only has one hardware button to its right.
Image Credit: Google Images
For now, that's really all we can tell you about
the Moto 360 -- that it's a beautiful and sizable smartwatch. Motorola currently had the 360 running a demo mode of Android Wear, so one could not get a
feel for how the watch actually will work. That said, Motorola's on its way to
proving that sometimes, it's not hip to be a square.
GIF Credit: Google
Hopefully
the price—the biggest open question— will be as appealing as the looks. Meanwhile, you may have a look at this video.
Disclaimer: This Video belongs to Motorola Mobility and is embedded here just for informative purpose.
¨Peace¨ is what people desire when they go on a holiday or are on a break. That is exactly what I found on my trip to Igatpuri, Nashik. This was a heartfelt trip with my very close friends last monsoon. Talk about scenic beauty and that is what Igatpuri is all about during monsoons. It is the best place to visit during this season. Adding to the scenic beauty was the fresh fragrance of grass and mud. When we reached there, it was drizzling and the weather was very pleasant. Just as we reached, the first thing we wanted to do was trekking and thats what we started with. Climbing up the beautiful green mountains was not even a bit tiring as we were enjoying the light and fresh fragrance of water combined with grass and mud. The light drizzle was icing on the cake. We wanted to reach the topmost point of the hill and what we experienced on our way was mind blowing. Since it was monsoon, there were beautiful waterfalls on our way towards the top of the mountain. Without doubt, we wanted to bathe in those so we jumped in. The beautiful sound of the waterfall and the pleasing fragrance around made us feel heaven on earth. After a short dip in the waterfall, we headed towards the top and finally reached our destination. This trip was nothing but unforgettable for us. Driving back home, I realised how beautiful nature really is and how much do we miss in our everyday fast life. Natural fragrances are something which we do not experience in a busy city like Mumbai. The smell of wet grass, mud, the sound of water in a waterfall etc. This was my evocative travel experience and what I always look for in a fragrance in natural freshness.
