Smartbuy issue dated 31 Aug 2011

Smartbuy Business Line

G A D G E T S

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A U T O |

L U X U R Y

www.blsmartbuy.com

Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG Driving Affalterbach’s new star Page 8

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HTC Sensation reviewed Lakmé Fashion Week round-up

WHAT’S HOT this week

Team Smartbuy Editorial Anushya Mamtora anushya@thehindu.co.in

Archana Achal archana.a@thehindu.co.in

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala ketaki@thehindu.co.in

Mahananda Bohidar mahananda@thehindu.co.in

S. Muralidhar muraliswami@thehindu.co.in

Design Bryan Gaughan aqua@thehindu.co.in

Balakrishnan designkbala@thehindu.co.in

Advertising Contact R. Diwakar ramdiwakar@thehindu.co.in

Web Advertising Contact N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in

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Cover photo: S. Muralidhar

A stunning performer B&O BeoSound 5 Encore This digital music system allows for easy navigation in your digital music library, access to over 13,000 internet radio stations and a high quality listening experience coupled with intuitive graphical user interface. The sound hub arranges all your media content conveniently and instantly by album, artist, track, or favourites. It can be used as a stand-alone audio system or in a multi-source/multi-room application. $ 3,350

Switch to the new

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V One of the first smartphones from the company to be shipped with its latest upgraded software, the Xperia neo V will include Google Talk with Video Chat and enhanced Facebook inside Xperia functionalities.

The handset running on the latest version of Gingerbread will also feature the world’s first 3D sweep panorama camera. With the software upgrade you can turn the smartphone into a minimobile PC by connecting USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard or game controller) to Sony Ericsson LiveDock multimedia station and connect the smartphone to a TV via HDMI to get a big screen experience.

To be announced

Carry me around Lenovo ThinkPad X220 The ultraportable ThinkPad X220 comes equipped with the second generation Intel Core i7 processor. While video conferencing, you can choose between Private Chat mode that eliminates background noise when one person is talking or Conference Call mode that picks up sounds from across a room when many participants are around a conference table. It also makes for a faster boot time with its RapidBoot technology and Lenovo’s enhanced experience 2.0 for Windows 7. With the USB 3.0 port, you can transfer data up to ten times faster. The ThinkPad X220 provides up to 23 hours of battery life with a slim external battery pack.

Rs 71,920

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Tech Tattle Your weekly dose of gizmo gossip

Playing it safe “Tis never too late” seems to be the credo that Sony Corp. is following when it comes to their first-ever tablets. The little birdie says that the two tablets (both running Android 3.0) which were earlier announced by the company are going to hit the markets with a worldwide launch very soon (read next month). Sony’s codenamed ‘S1’ tablet with its 9.4-inch display is optimised for rich media entertainment. S1’s infrared technology lets it double up as a universal remote control for a variety of AV devices starting with Sony’s BRAVIA television. The 5.5-inch ‘S2’ flaunts a foldable display and is designed to be an ideal device for mobile communication and entertainment. The dual-screen clamshell-type tab allows for functions such as playing games on one screen while showing control buttons on the other. The tablets will be equipped with PlayStation Suite to make the most of high quality first generation PlayStation titles.

Inspiringly chic

Dell Inspiron 13z The latest lappie in Dell’s Inspiron series runs second generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and features a 13.3-inch widescreen display and over six hours of battery life. It includes an HD webcam, up to 4GB memory, 320GB hard disk, built in media card reader, USB 3.0 and SRS Premium sound.

Rs 32,000

La Bella

Nokia 700

Scribble on the Scribe?

The Nokia 700 runs the latest version of the Symbian OS, Belle. The phone features a ClearBlack AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass and 5-meg camera with LED flash and HD video. Symbian Belle features a fresh home screen, user interface and widgets and simple software updates. The phone also features NFC (near field communications), which allows you to share media by simply tapping another NFC enabled phone.

To be announced

Tech websites are abuzz with rumours of Amazon Inc. launching a device called the Kindle Scribe after Fusible reported that the company has registered the homonymous website domain name. A recent price slash on the 3rd gen Kindle (now only $99) could be a strong hint that Amazon is ready to introduce something new. Like the name suggests, the new e-book reader (if it is one) could come with a stylus that lets you take notes or annotate all over the e-books in the Kindle. But is that enough to give it an edge over the competition – Barnes & Nobles’ Nook Color and the Kobo eReader Touch?

Well, maybe if it comes with an e-ink touchscreen or a colour one at that!

And in the meantime, it also looks like it has an iPad-rival up its sleeve with recent reports of having placed orders for lots of tablet computers!

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SMARTPHONE review

Aiming to stir up the ranks: HTC Sensation tos:

Pho dran avin R. R

Mahananda Bohidar s little as five years ago, HTC wouldn’t have been the obvious answer if one was asked to name a company that was popular for its smartphones. Thanks to a steady stream of increasingly efficient devices from the Taiwanese handset manufacturer, this might no longer be the case. HTC has, in recent times, introduced handsets that have their distinctive USPs, such as the HTC Mozart for high fidelity listening and HTC Salsa and ChaCha for Facebook addicts. But the latest and the most potent of its creations seems to be the HTC Sensation that hit Indian markets in June this year. Does it hit the ground running?

It’s an ‘appy day!

A

A common Sense Features of HTC’s proprietary Sense UI, which was first integrated into HTC smartphones more than a year ago, are carried over to HTC Sensation. The ‘pinch-to-Leap’ gesture that displays a matrix of all home screens has been retained from the original Sense, as is tapping twice on the Home button, for the same function.

The new active lockscreen, however, makes for a superconvenient interface that let me check my missed call alerts and read messages at a glance while still in the locked mode. A sleek, virtual ring at the bottom of the screen which I drag to unlock the handset doubles up as a

With its distinctive design, souped up Sense interface and a whopper of a clicker, this smartphone could easily carve a niche for itself.

quick launcher for a couple of apps.

Drag any of the apps while in the locked mode – the default bunch of Phone, Mail, Camera and Messages – on to the ring and you are taken straight to the app. Mighty convenient, added the fact that these four options are customisable too!

The option of seven home screens gives you ample real estate to arrange your favourite apps, widgets, calendars, contacts and social feeds. You can prefix templates or ‘Scenes’ like Social, which displays your latest FB or Twitter feed on the home screen or ‘Work’ that displays stock positions or your agenda for the day.

With a quick swipe, the interface spins around all the home screens in a smooth, impressive animation.

The Sensation has a little palette-paintbrush icon on the right bottom that takes us directly to personalisation options and boy, the options to customise are aplenty! The handset gives me the freedom to create folders and group my apps with ease. A long press on the title bar lets you rename it accordingly.

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Let’s face it! It’s as much about which internet radio app we can listen to, which HD game we can obsess over and which funny noises the phone can make, as it is about the processor or the camera of a smartphone you’d want to buy. It is good news then that you have the option of downloading apps from not one but two providers here – Android Market and HTC Hub – both of which are congregated in HTC Likes.

The handset comes with the expected bunch of inbuilt apps. The Calendar lets you plan the day by the hour while showing you the expected weather for the day. The Weather app has captivating animations with thunder and lightning striking your screen as you unlock it on a rainy day or the sunrays peeping out brightly when it’s a clear sky up above. Full marks to HTC for making these apps zesty and interesting. With the Sensation, HTC had debuted ‘Watch’, its proprietary video service, which had a handful of teasers of newly launched and upcoming movies. It is originally meant to offer the choice of renting or buying videos and watching them on up to five different HTC devices. ‘Peep’ remains the handset’s Twitter link and ‘Plurk’, another social networking cum micro-blogging site.

You also have a dedicated app to convert your handset into a Wi-Fi hotspot that saves you the trouble of tweaking

Tech Specs Size:126.1mm x 65.4mm x 11.3mm 4.96" x 2.57" x 0.44" Weight: 148 grams with battery Display: 4.3-inch touch screen CPU: 1.2 GHz, dual core Internal phone storage: 1GB RAM: 768MB Platform: Android with HTC Sense Camera: 8-meg, dual LED flash with 1080p HD video recording Front camera: VGA fixed focus color camera Sensors: Gyro sensor, G-Sensor, Digital compass, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor Connectors: 3.5mm stereo audio jack, micro-USB 2.0, (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection Tethering: USB and Wi-Fi tethering Battery type: 1520mAh Lithiumion battery Talk time: WCDMA-Up to 420 minutes, GSM-Up to 500 minutes

the setting in the menu. Voice Search still remains a strange mix of being surprisingly efficient and at times, as intuitive as a rotting log of wood.

Cheese, please!

It’s not too often that I have second thoughts about the budget digicam I bought last year. It gives me decent results, keeps noise low and colours bright and never fails to act out when I try to capture something in low-light or in motion. The 8-megger on the HTC Sensation, however, almost convinced me that it would be worthwhile to just get a smartphone like itself which takes great pictures – and great, here, would be an understatement. The clicker not only takes crisp stills indoors but also gives pretty stunning results. When we were on the move and going crazy with the virtual shutter, the 8-meg camera unfailingly gave us shots with unbelievably minimal blur.

The Camcorder on the handset too captures videos in 1080p resolution, with full stereo sound, at up to 30 frames per second; giving you smooth video that is better than a lot of other phones we’ve tried.

Doting on the design It’s only a handful of companies in the game that have made themselves recognisable by their distinctive design, for example, Apple with its sleek aluminium unibody construction and Sony Ericsson with its pristine white

Pitting it against the best plastic in the Xperia models. HTC is one of the few to have made it to this clique. With a stylish unibody aluminium chassis running around the handset, the HTC Sensation carries the definitive trait of a HTC. The volume rocker button barely protrudes from the side. The 8-megger with its dual LED flash nestles in the partly rubberised back panel, next to the speaker grilles. The back panel curves to envelop a bit of the fascia too.

With the first qHD (Quarter HD screen), the HTC Sensation puts the sizeable 4.3-inch screen to good use. It makes for a clear display even outdoors under bright sunlight and the ambient light sensors work quite efficiently.

Despite the 1520mAh battery, the Sensation guzzles up most of its power in a day – what with FriendStream, Weather apps, Gmail updating automatically and a couple of minutes spent every hour trying to hit the pigs! But here again, you have lots of ways to tweak your power settings and conserve some juice. At the heart of the HTC Sensation beats a 1.2-GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which prevented freezes quite efficiently. But while playing certain games, the handset unfortunately heated up in about 5-10 minutes.

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With snazzy smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S II (not withstanding the Apple ban) impressing the living daylights out of gadget enthusiasts, does the HTC Sensation stand a chance?

Yes, I say! It might not have the brawn to match up to the RAM of the Galaxy S II (768 MB vs 1GB) and has disappointing low storage memory for a modern-day smartphone (1GB compared to 16/32 GB in the Galaxy S II). But it definitely competes neck-to-neck since it is packed with the 1GHz dual-core processor, dual LED flash, and stereo sound recording coupled with the improved Sense UI which might appeal to some more than the TouchWiz 4.0.

The higher qHD resolution on the Sensation tries to make up for what it loses in comparison to the Super AMOLED+ display on the S II – one of the most brilliant displays adorning a smartphone. The HTC Sensation weighs in a tad bit more than the Galaxy S II but outdoes the latter with its sleek aluminium design.

Love: High-res screen, excellent camera, good build quality, slick Sense interface Hate: Average battery life, tends to heat up Rs 32,700 mahananda@thehindu.co.in

TABLET review

Creative ZiiO: Living with compromises

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala like 7-inch tablets. They’re easier to carry around, the perfect size for a good keyboard layout and can do everything that a 10inch tablet can. Successful 7-inchers have included the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry Playbook, HTC Flyer and the Acer Iconia A100.

So when Creative announced that its ZiiO tablets would include both 10inch and 7-inch variants, I was curious to see what the budget 7-inch tablet could do.

I

Getting a feel Relationships are all about compromise, but that’s not what you expect from a gadget. Unfortunately, a lot of the time I felt like I was accomodating

User interface The ZiiO’s user interface is pretty much like any other Android tablet. The home screens feature the standard notification bar, and dock at the bottom. Although the home screens are customisable with shortcuts and widgets, you can only have a maximum of three.

Creative has its own set of custom apps for functions, such as ZiiExplorer, ZiiMusic, ZiiVideo, ZiiPhoto and ZiiStore. The ZiiStore does feature a bunch of Android apps, including Angry Birds and a Kindle app, but the choice is minimal. ZiiExplorer is also pretty convenient, showing up a list of all the media on the tablet. It also lets you easily create, rename and Photo: R. Ravindran rearrange folders, so you can organise all your stuff. the ZiiO. It runs Android 2.2, but What I liked was the fact that unlike there’s no access to the Android mar- standard Android tabs, the ZiiO supket. There’s a front facing VGA camera ports a wide range of media files, infor video chats, but no rear camera. clude .avi video files, so you don’t have There’s a micro HDMI slot but can’t to download a third party video player playback videos in HD. It’s got a 7-inch to watch vids. I watched almost an screen but it’s resistive. entire season of the Office on the ZiiO, On the bright side, I did spend a long and although I didn’t face any probtime testing this device, and I wasn’t lems with stagger between frames, the frustrated by the end of it, like I was 480x800 screen made the videos look with certain other budget droids. a bit washed out. At least the ZiiO First up, I liked the white finish on saves your video progress, so you can the ZiiO. It did feel a bit plasticky to start where you left off the next time hold, but the edges slope away from you use the tablet. the screen, which give it a nice angular The screen was definitely more relook. It features four touch sensitive sponsive than usual resistive touch Android buttons on the bottom of the screens, but it still wasn’t anywhere up bezel, as well as a micro USB port, to par with what we’ve seen on Apple 3.5mm headphone jack and 5 volt and Samsung’s creations so far. The charging slot and micro SD card slot.

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ZiiO ships with a slender stylus, but oddly there’s no slot in the tablet itself for it, so every time I needed it, I had to fish around in my bag for a bit. Even though the stylus makes navigating the screen much easier, the four Android buttons on the bezel fail to respond to it, requiring more than a hard jab to work.

I had no issues with the browser, which allows multiple tabs and bookmarks. The screen doesn’t support pinch to zoom, but you can double tap to zoom in. There’s also the native Android email app to let you set up any email account.

Performance The ZiiO runs on a ZiiLABS ZMS-08 chip, which means no 3G and slower Wi-Fi. Although the tablet features an auto-orientation, there’s just the slightest hint of a lag there. I also found lags when I pressed the unlock button, opened or closed an app, or scrolled through documents and videos.

Battery life was quite decent, and I maxed out the ZiiO’s juices with 5 hours of back to back video playback.

Our verdict Despite a string of limitations, the ZiiO is a handy tablet to carry around, if you’re looking for just the basic functions. It’s also a much better option than most of the other budget Android tablets in the market. However, if you’re looking for a tablet that’s a performer, there are plenty of other options to choose from.

Love: Supports a variety of file formats, lightweight Hate: No Android market, resistive screen Rs 17,999 ketaki@thehindu.co.in

GAME review

I

nfamous was one of those games that offered a superior superhero experience even though its protagonist was no Superman or Batman. You were Cole McGrath, a courier who just happened to be saddled with a highly volatile device that not only levelled his city, but bestowed upon him awesome electric powers. He could then use those powers for good by being Empire City’s saviour, or be reckless without any regard for others’ safety. Infamous 2 expands upon that formula with a new setting and a plethora of new powers.

Its core gameplay hasn’t changed a lot, but that still does not stop Infamous 2 from becoming one of the most entertaining games in recent times.

coursing through his veins, he must avoid water like the plague, and in an area that’s pretty much submerged under-water, you can imagine how tricky that could get.

Thankfully, navigation isn’t a problem as Cole is well versed in the art of free running. While Cole is more than capable of climbing any structure, his climbing animation lacks the fluidity you’ve been spoilt with by the Assassins Creed series. He can also grind on electric cables all over the city. These powers were present in the first game as well, but were presented to Cole after a while. Here, the game starts you off with these essential abilities, making travel a breeze right off the bat.

The tale Cole is now on his way to New Marais. He’s up against a fifty foot behemoth called The Beast and unless he expands upon his powers exponentially, there’s no way he can take it down. Cole is joined by his best friend Zeke and a cast of interesting characters. The game does a fine job of recapping the events from the first game so even newcomers can catch on fast. Voice acting was surprisingly good and I really dug the chemistry between Cole and his compadres.

New Marais is loosely based on New Orleans and developer Sucker Punch has done a neat job of capturing the city’s vibe. Certain parts of the city will be in utter ruins after floods, while the flourishing areas will be soaked in neon lights and festivities. The entire city is your playground, but initially, you’ll be confined to just one part of the city. After the halfway mark, you’ll be required to help out the flooded parts of the city and it’s here that the game gets intense. Since Cole has a gazillion volts of electricity

Knock ‘em down Combat is pretty much the same as its predecessor with the additional melee of attacks. You can take down enemies that get too close in stylish ways thanks to Cole’s very own lightning rod. Your powers are variants of real world weaponry, so you’ll be able to fire off electric bolts (like a pistol), launch electric rockets, toss electric ‘nades, etc. The game has a huge selection of powers, some of which are locked to your choices.

Like the first game, Karma plays a major role in Infamous 2. Your choices will not only dictate your appearance, but will also determine which powers you unlock. Be the nice guy, and you’ll inherit powers that don’t have much of a collateral damage, but be evil and you’ll receive destructive powers that kill civilians and bad guys alike. Your moral choices will also be reflected in either good or evil side quests. I really like the way developer Sucker Punch has integrated side quests into your upgrade system, un-

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locking new powers after an X number of side quests. This way, you actually feel like you’re being rewarded for breaking away from the plot and it helps that these side quests aren’t just cheap clones of the main story missions.

As Cole upgrades his powers, he’ll become a real superhero with a wicked streak towards the end of the game, but this does not make him invincible.

Sure, he can regenerate health from any electric device, but that still doesn’t make him impervious to bullets.

Boss fights are truly impressive in scope and they give some of the ones present in God of War III a run for their money. My only issue was that I ended up fighting a few of them multiple times, which got a bit repetitive. But these are minor issues in the grand scheme of things. Infamous 2 is a huge game full of content that warrants multiple play-throughs thanks to its Karma system. It looks gorgeous, plays well and will appeal to anyone looking for a solid action adventure.

Rating - 4.5 / 5 Rs 2,499 Love: Solid gameplay, insane amount of powers to chose from, intense boss fights, gorgeous open world Hate: If you didn’t like the first game, this one won’t change your mind, platforming looks a bit clunky, boss fights can get a bit repetitive Publisher: Sony Developer: Sucker Punch Platform: PS3 CHIP

AUTO focus

The best super-luxury 4-door coupe?

S. Muralidhar estled in the midst of rolling wheat fields that stretch to the horizon and apple and pear orchards on either side of the highway leading up to it, Affalterbach’s significance can be a bit lost on the first time visitor.

This nondescript, quiet town, a couple of hours drive from Stuttgart in Germany is the hometown of MercedesAMG – the high-performance luxury car subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz. AMGs are typically the beefed up performance versions of Mercedes-Benz production models.

Of course, Mercedes-AMG also adds its own touch of class to the design and interiors to make them look like luxury super-performance AMGs. The culmination of the years of association with motorsports, design improvement and performance enhancement resulted in Mercedes-AMG developing and producing the SLS AMG from scratch. We have reviewed the SLS AMG and some of the other AMG models too in past issues and these can be accessed in the archives section of the magazine’s website.

Even as Mercedes-AMG is testing and is poised to officially launch the SLS AMG Roadster next month at the Frankfurt Motor Show, I got to drive the latest from its stables – the CLS 63 AMG.

N

Design The CLS Class from Mercedes-Benz, when launched in 2004, pioneered the concept of a four-door coupe sedan.

With sinuous lines and a beautifully curved coupe-like roof, the CLS appealed to buyers and the competition

alike.

The second generation CLS was launched early this year. Though it shares the same concept and some of the design lines of the first-gen, it has shed its curvy, metrosexual image and become more macho. The design has become tauter, more aggressive and now represents an alluring combination of squared-off edges and swooping curves.

The CLS 63 AMG takes on the design of the new secondgen model and reinterprets it with typical AMG flair.

Incidentally, Mercedes-AMG officials have chosen to retain the ‘63’ in the moniker despite the fact that the engine of choice is now the 5.5-litre V8 Biturbo and not the earlier 6.3-litre naturally aspirated unit.

The front view of the new CLS 63 AMG is dominated by the brand’s characteristic radiator grille. Its three-dimensional shape and the oversized three-pointed star logo make it look very much like the SLS AMG. The AMG front apron also makes a powerful design statement thanks to the drawn-out side air intakes with black grilles – flanked by LED daytime driving lights – and central air intake with black-painted cross strut. Another highlight of the front view is the pair of LED high-performance headlamps.

The CLS 63 AMG’s side view is an interesting interplay between lines and areas, the lateral ‘dropping line’ and also the wide-set wheel arches add lot of dynamism and length to the profile of the car. The rear wheel arch, which the designer alludes to the taut haunch of a wild animal, is a particularly neat touch. More dynamism is offered by the titanium grey-painted high-sheen AMG light-alloy

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wheels, which feature a new triple-spoke design.

At the rear the AMG apron with black diffuser insert also incorporates the dual twin chrome tailpipes of the AMG sports exhaust system as well as the rear fog lamp.

The new design, almost eye-shaped, wide wraparound bicolour tail-lamps featuring LED technology and the wide metal insert make for special visual highlights at the rear. The integrated AMG spoiler lip on the boot lid helps to reduce lift at the rear axle by around 26 per cent, further enhancing handling at high speeds.

Interiors The interior of the new CLS 63 AMG is classy and luxurious, and clearly several notches above the stuff we have seen in previous models. Extremely well appointed and involving very premium materials, the CLS AMG’s cabin has exclusivity written all over. The CLS brand’s typical sweeping, symmetrical dashboard layout has been brought into the new CLS 63 AMG too. You can choose between black piano-lacquered trim and polished carbonfibre elements for the cabin. My test drive car came with shiny carbon-fibre and matt aluminium all over the dash and door panels.

The new AMG Performance steering wheel, in the CLS 63 AMG, features a three-spoke design, has aluminium shift paddles located within easy access, and flattened upper and lower sections giving it a very sporty look and feel. The wheel also has specially shaped grip areas covered in perforated leather The other feature of the CLS 63 AMG’s cabin that I liked was the quality of the seats. Wrapped in perforated, soft

But, the transmission and the new Start-Stop system in this AMG also makes sure that the car delivers respectable fuel efficiency. The AMG start-stop function which works like any other similar system is on standby when the CLS 63 is being driven in controlled efficiency (C) mode only.

In the sports (S) and manual (M) modes the start-stop function is off and the engine and transmission take on a clearly more aggressive character.

nappa leather with a cross-stitch sports design, the seats are very comfortable even on long drives. Choose the dynamic mode and the side bolsters of the driver and front passenger seats automatically fold inward on the left or the right (depending on the tight turn being taken) to support you.

A special addition on the dash is the high-quality analogue clock featuring an ‘IWC Ingenieur’ design located between the centre air vents.

Performance The CLS 63 AMG has held its niche in the segment’s performance rankings with the earlier naturally aspirated 6.3-litre engine. But the previous engine would have burnt a hole in your pocket. The new V8, the 5.5-litre Biturbo engine on the other hand, burns rubber better, is lighter on your wallet and also attempts to get friendlier with the greens.

The new 5,461cc Biturbo engine manages to generate about 11 bhp more power and 11 per cent more torque than the previous engine and it is also said to be about 32 per cent more fuel efficient. So how does it work?

Aiding the new V8 engine, two turbos compress the charge air to about 2.3 times the normal density and then the oversized intercooler cools the compressed and heated air to reduce its temperature and volume. Together, the turbos and the intercooler combine to force into the 5.5litre engine’s combustion chamber, twice as much air mass as a naturally aspirated engine.

Another trick is direct fuel injection, which is via piezo injectors operating at upto 200 bar. Other technologies like variable camshafts and the engine’s light weight construction contribute to the high torque of 800 Nm (with

the optional AMG performance package). Peak torque is still a huge 700 Nm even without the performance package. Peak power available from about 5,250 rpm is a sumptuous 525 bhp. With the AMG performance package, that gets bumped up to a brain-shifting 557 bhp, 0 to 100 kmph comes in a mere 4.4 seconds.

Crank the engine, let the exhaust burble a bit, shift into drive, ease on the throttle and then the power on tap is exciting. Reining in all that raspy, eager power and channeling them to the axles is the new AMG Speedshift MCT 7-speed sports transmission.

With this gearbox, the conventional torque converter has been replaced by a compact wet start off clutch which responds more immediately to driver demands. There is almost no loss of power during transits. The transition is also very smooth. The newly developed transmission control supplies all the necessary information to reduce response time and it modifies engine and gearshift characteristics and even automatically double clutches when down-shifting. Together, with the awesome new exhaust note of the CLS 63 AMG, the powertrain’s performance will make you think that you can corner and pull off as well as Schumi, while sitting in the comforts of a super luxury sedan

Photos: S. Muralidhar

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Extremely agile I personally felt that the new CLS 63 AMG is a new benchmark in performance and agility in the four-door coupe class. The steering is super precise and perfectly weighted and the wheel sits just right in your hands even in the most intense situations. The suspension is another highlight. The AMG Ride Control sports suspension packs steel struts in the front and air suspension struts at the rear.

There is automatic level control which is further improved with the help of an electronically controlled damping system. This automatically adjusts damping characteristics depending on the driving conditions and reduces body roll, striking a good mix of comfort and agility.

The burbling, enthralling exhaust note of the CLS 63 AMG must have woken up the quiet neighbourhood around the almost Atelier-like AMG plant in Affalterbach.

And the thought that crossed my mind was that if this car can be priced at about Rs 1.4 crore, it can be more affordable than similar spec four-door coupes from Porsche, Maserati and Aston Martin. muraliswami@thehindu.co.in

MELANGE luxury redefined

Cruising along Linc Pen and Plastics launches the Cruiser Pen, a classic ball point pen studded with Swarovski crystals and crafted in sterling silver. The German ink makes writing a breeze. Available at all Office Linc outlets.

Rs 11,000

Vintage value Stay cool with Vintage Mother of Pearl eyewear

by John Galliano. The pieces have mother of pearl frames in interesting, oversized shapes to add a vintage twist to modern style. Available at select stores in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Rs 20,550 (in pic)

Double duty Keep your skin moisturised and protected with The Body Shop’s Body Butter Duo. Available in macadamia, vanilla, floral açai and sweet pea options and enriched with shea butter and Brazil nut oils, each container has one formulation for normal skin and another for dry skin. Available at its stores.

Rs 845

Flower Power Travel in style with Samsonite’s new range of luggage, the Floralis Collection, which comes in three sizes. The floral print, available as black flowers on white and vice-versa adds a splash of fun to your travel gear.

Available at its stores.

Rs 7,990 to Rs 10,750

Leather-iffic!

The new range of leather bags launched by Holii are sure to grab your attention with embossed Indian motifs, bright colours and brocade additions. Pick one up to complete your look for an evening out.

Available at its stores in Mumbai and New Delhi.

Rs 1,395 onwards

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FASHION fever

JJ Valaya

Kallol Datta

Swapnil Shinde Nachiket Barve

Fashion’s 7-day extravaganza

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ne season goes by, the other comes. We don’t indulge in wardrobe makeovers, but some unique style, eclectic design or edgy silhouette immediately grabs your eye. And you can’t resist but give them the prime location, rather hanger, in your walk in closet! The recently concluded Lakmé Fashion Week had many such winners in the form of panelled lehengas, kitschy dresses, dapper jackets, hardware attack, grey overtones, rich embroidery and more.

Here are the highlights.

Utterly Indian

Festive fervour. Bridal blushes. Techno trends.

Ravishing resort. The Winter Festive 2011 edition of Lakmé Fashion Week was an interesting style puzzle to put together.

What goes into your wardrobe and what goes out? TEAM SMARTBUY lets you in on the buzz

No fashion week goes by without celebrating traditional Indian fabrics, drapes and designs. And this season saw quite a few designers showcasing interesting versions, though the silhouettes were no different.

Anita Dongre’s Rajasthan inspired bridal collection was a bandhini lover’s delight.

The traditional tie-and-dye ensembles were embellished with gota patti work, badla and metallic patterns. Manish Malhotra’s Grand Finale sequence saw his trademark styles, but the panelled and layered lehengas and avant-garde gowns with silver and resham embroidery in lively hues got all the applause. But what bowled us over were Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s North West Frontier Province styles that saw patialas and kurtas with eye-catching Kashmir thread work, muted silver zardosi craft

that were beautifully paired with Sunderbans floral print. JJ Valaya, Neeta Lulla and Rohit Bal had some winning pieces too.

Sabyasachi

Design takeaways:

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Rich velvet embroidery panels in lehengas and sarees for women and sherwanis for men Traditional metallic patterns in traditional Indian wear; subtle, not over the top Jackets of all kinds. Knee length, sculpted, power shoulders, bolero… in varied fabrics. This is the best time to own a classy one. Pair it with trousers, sarees, kurtas, dresses; let your imagine run wild!

Grey is in. It was splashed across ethnic ensembles and chic casuals in single and jewelled tones. It worked well as colour blocks and gave ombre drape dresses a classy touch.

Skinny is out, volume is in. Voluminous gowns, lehengas and kurtas with different fabric layers dominated the ramp Fun accessories are a real asset. Blingy hairbands, geeky or coloured eyewear, whacky headgear can spice up your outfit.

The wider the better. Harem and palazzo pants were seen across many collections.

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Future watch Then of course, come a slew of styles that are diametrically opposite. The funky chic.

The techno streak. A whole futuristic appeal that lets you bring in some robotic styles into your wardrobe. Abstract styles with interesting use of hardware like rivets, circuit parts and wheels was Deux A’s highlight. Babita Malkani’s ‘Metal Morphosis’ collection too saw nuts, bolts, screws and metal sheets battling ramp space. Swapnil Shinde’s ‘Speed of Sound’ also made an impression with its clever use of plaits and folds in acrylic, PVC and leather to resemble sound waves from modern communication devices.

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Quirk it up!

Whacky and kitschy pieces are favourites among those who love to experiment with unusual fashion quirks. And we are not talking bubble gum colours and loud patterns. Two designers who stood out during this LFW are Kallol Datta and Little Shilpa. While Kallol’s Paper Planes drapes were the most talked about, Little Shilpa stuck to her creative side by encasing models in crate like rectangles with the image of blue sky and white frothy clouds. Her headgears were fun with pleated ikat fabrics and feathers doing the honours.

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What we loved

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JJ Valaya’s popular Alika jacket. It looks great when teamed with sarees Appliqué work that adorned Rohit Bal’s collection The long sleeved embellished black blouses in Sabyasachi’s collection

Manish Malhotra Rohit Bal

TASTER’S choice

Photo: Bloomberg

Dive in for your bubbly Alan Tardi rilliant ideas sometimes arise out of pure necessity. Consider Piero Lugano, 63, the sun-tanned artist-turned-wine-merchant who opened a shop called Bisson in the town of Chiavari on the Italian Riviera in 1978.

Not content merely to sell wine, he soon began making it. Ten years ago he decided to try producing sparkling wine from indigenous varieties grown in vineyards overlooking the Golfo Paradiso on the Mediterranean.

But he immediately encountered a problem: There was simply no space in his already cramped shop and winery to carry out the aging required to make a bottle-fermented sparkling wine in the classic method of Champagne. Then, as he recalled recently, “a light bulb went on in my head: I thought, why not put the wine under the sea?”

This might seem logical to someone like Lugano who has long struggled to reconcile his twin passions for vine and sea. To most everyone else, the idea of making wine underwater might seem a bit unusual.

But Lugano makes an interesting argument: “It’s better than even the best underground cellar, especially for sparkling wine. The temperature is perfect, there’s no light, the water prevents even the slightest bit of air from getting in, and the constant counterpressure keeps the bubbles bubbly. Moreover, the underwater currents act like a crib, gently rocking the bottles and keeping the lees moving through the wine.” (The lees refer to yeast particles.)

It’s quite a creative solution to a space problem. But Italy is infamous for its labyrinthine bureaucracy. And the place he wanted to put the wine happened to be in the tightly controlled waters of a national marine preserve, the Area Marina Protetta di Portofino. So the odds would seem overwhelmingly against such a project.

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Undaunted, Lugano ran the idea by a friend-with-afriend at the agriculture ministry in Rome. Much to his surprise, his friend called back a week later; not only was it possible, the ministry thought it was a very cool idea. The next and most crucial step was to approach the local authorities.

In the winter of 2008, Lugano pitched his idea to a group at the Area Marina Protetta di Portofino that included the director, Giorgio Fanciulli, and a number of scientific advisers from the University of Genoa. “My first reaction,” Fanciulli said recently, was `No way! Our job is to prevent people from putting things in these waters, not help them.’

“But when we discussed it in private, the young scientists were very excited. It would have zero impact on the fragile ecosystem and demonstrate our philosophy of a positive synergy between man and nature. We also thought it might promote our park and raise awareness of the need to protect our marine resources. I was convinced.”

The scientists did research to ensure no environmental impact and determine the ideal site to place the wine. On May 20, 2009, 6,500 bottles of wine from the 2008 vintage of Bianchetta and Vermentino grapes, made without adding sugar in the traditional method known as pas dose, were put in noncorrosive stainless-steel cages and lowered about 200 feet below the sea at a spot called Cala degli Inglesi. That the project had come this far was an amazing accomplishment, but would it be successful? “It was a big risk,” Lugano said. “No one had done this before, so we really didn’t know what would happen.”

When they went to retrieve the wine 13 months later, they found the bottles intact but transformed. Far from having a negative impact on the underwater environment,

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it was the sea that had had an impact on the bottles.

“When we began to lift the cages,” Lugano said, “all kinds of sea creatures came rushing out. Some remained.”

The bottles were covered with algae, seaweed and barnacles, all of it carefully cleaned, dried and preserved on the bottle in a plastic sheath. (Some even had oysters, shrimp and starfish attached to them, which were tossed back.)

More important, when the first bottle of the wine (christened Abissi, meaning depths in Italian) was opened for a celebratory toast, Lugano was, as he put it, “quite pleased.”

It’s easy to see why. When first poured, the bubbles come rushing up to the surface of the glass like sea foam at high tide, but then quickly relax into a fine perlage. The colour is pale golden-yellow with greenish reflections, while the aroma suggests caramelised lemon peel and dried flower petals with hints of baked apple and allspice.

On the palate it is surprisingly soft, leading into ripe, almost sweet, white peach followed by bracing acidity and a dry mineral finish.

This winter, the second edition of Abissi, made from the 2009 vintage and brought up from the sea on July 2, 2011, will be available in the U.S. for the first time through Bisson’s importer, Neil Rosenthal.

Though bottle-fermented in the classic manner, Abissi should not be compared to Champagne. This is a typical Ligurian wine – lean, crisply acidic, minerally, almost salty – made of local varieties from vineyards conditioned by their proximity to the sea.

In fact, the earth where the vines grow was once under the sea. That this wine undergoes its crucial maturation under water brings the process full circle, giving the concept of terroir an even deeper, aqueous dimension.

New York Times News Service

EVENT meter

Revamped khazana!

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aj Khazana, the in-house lifestyle boutique chain of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, has a new location to add to its quintessentially hand-made treasure trove. The boutique at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai has undergone a makeover and the result is one quirky yet traditional store. The design is an effortless blend of vintage and contemporary aesthetics, with catchy green accents and a stately wooden door with intricate design-work reminiscent of South Indian temples.

The boutique showcases beautiful, handmade Indian products along with some chic designer-wear. The focus of Taj Khazana has always been the promotion of local artisans and their work. As a result, one can find lovely, raw silk saris in eyecatching colours and pleasing bed linen sitting pretty beside gold and silver jewellery made with traditional, South Indian workmanship. Special touches of tradi-

tional Chennai life are present in the jute pouches filled with coffee and idli powder, along with hand-woven, chequered plastic baskets reminiscent of those grandmothers carried to the markets.

Even the walls have been wallpapered with printed, black and white photographs of the city from years gone by. Also hard to miss is the large, bright green cycle-rickshaw at one corner. It has been revamped to serve as a table holding miniature paintings, bejewelled clutches and mother of pearl candle holders. The fun factor continues with French macaroon-shaped measuring tapes and jewellery made of leather and enamel. Cufflinks, silk ties and contemporary clothing for men are also available.

The cynosure of the store is however, a wall of dried coconuts enclosed in a green metal frame that captures the city’s feel with a twist.

Travel through time I

n a first for the Swiss luxury watch brand, Vacheron Constantin held an exhibition titled “Treasures of Vacheron Constantin: A legacy of watchmaking since 1755” at the National Museum of Singapore, showcasing pieces illustrating it amazing history. The event was heralded by a gala opening, attended by dignitar-

ies of state and company heads.

The exhibition was placed over 600 metres of floor space and seemed just right for the 180 pieces displayed. Guests were taken through a fascinating journey about the art of Swiss watchmaking and Vacheron Constantin’s legacy. The journey began in the 18th century and ended in the

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present age. The focus was on the detailed craftsmanship and intricate mechanism by which the watches have evolved.

The centrepiece of the exhibition was the pocket watch created by Les Bergers of Arcadia in 1923 which embodied all the technical mastery and aesthetic beauty of the world of watchmaking. Archival docu-

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ments belonging to Francois Constantin and Jean-Marc Vacheron, workbenches and work tools essential to the trade were also on display. There were artisans, engravers, gem-setters and watchmakers at the event who interacted with the guests and let them in on some of their treasured artistic know-how.