Smartbuy issue dated October 13, 2010

Smartbuy Business Line

G A D G E T S

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Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A U T O |

L U X U R Y

www.blsmartbuy.com

Très Grande!

Paris Motor Show 2010 Page 8

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Reviews: Fiat Linea T-Jet Xbox 360 Slim Cowon J3 Media Player

WHAT’S HOT this week

Team Smartbuy Editorial Anushya Mamtora anushya@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

The next big thing Dell Streak

N. Amarnath amarnath@thehindu.co.in

www.blsmartbuy.com Become a fan of our Facebook page: BL Smartbuy Follow us on Twitter

Cover photo: S. Muralidhar

The most eagerly awaited tablet after the iPad, the Dell Streak has finally been launched in India with Tata Docomo as the carrier. This Android-based tablet is just 5-inches wide, making it the perfect median between a regular tablet and smartphone. It runs a Snapdragon 1GHz 8250 Mobile processor, and features connectivity options such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G. The capacitive WVGA touchscreen is made of Gorilla Glass, making it more resistant to drops and scratches. The Streak also features integrated SNS options like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and includes a 5-meg camera with flash. In addition to all this, there’s an eco-angle too - the Streak’s packaging is made of 100 per cent sustainable, compostable bamboo.

Rs 34,990

Trendsetter HP G Series

Finger friendly Logitech K200 This new full-size keyboard from Logitech comes with one-touch access to play/pause, volume, Internet and email, among other functions. With a thin profile, the K200 makes a perfect accessory to your desktop. The keyboard can withstand up to five million keystrokes, making it extremely durable. It is also spill resistant, so you don’t have to worry about being clumsy with your coffee.

Rs 595

The new series of notebooks from HP is less than 1.24-inch thin and weigh about 2.2 kgs, making them the perfect portable partner. They feature a pocket style keyboard with a flush touchpad, and offer storage of up to 750GB (on selected models).

Choose from a 14-inch or 15.6-inch BrightView LED display, and listen to audio on the Altec Lansing speakers. With a choice of Intel Core i3 or i5 processors, multi-tasking is a breeze, and the six-cell battery gives you up to 5.5 hours of juice.

Rs 34,500 onwards

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Knock proof Panasonic Toughbook Panasonic has recently added five new models of its Toughbook series of notebooks to the range. These notebooks feature the Intel Core i5 Pro processor. Weighing less than 1.25 kg each, these babies can withstand pressure of up to 100 kg, and come with water protected keyboards and touchpads. They are equipped with Turbo Boost Technology and feature shock mounted flex connect hard drives. With 11 hours of battery life, these notebooks can power on in practically any situation. Add to this a three year warranty, and you have one sturdy companion.

Rs 1.49 lakh onwards

Worthy successor Nikon D3100

Building on the success of its entry level DSLR, the D3000, Nikon has recently launched the DX format D3100.

This cam claims to be the lightest and smallest in the Nikon DSLR range. The D3100 will feature the New Guide mode made popular by the D3000, and is also equipped with a live view function. The CMOS sensor is a 14.2-meg, and the camera offers ISO of up to 3200. It also features D-Movie for recording and editing full HD movies.

Body only: Rs 27,250 With 18-55mm VR lens: Rs 32,950

Glassy affair Waterfall Audio speakers The new range of speakers from Waterfall is branded the Krystaline Evo Line. It includes the Niagara DG, 47-inch tower speakers made of 15mm thick diamond glass, solid aluminium parts and hand-stitched napa leather. The Victoria Evo speakers can be teamed with Waterfall’s satellites to create a home cinema. The Iguascu Evo can reproduce the entire frequency range without the use of a sub-woofer. These speakers can be teamed with Waterfall’s Hurricane satellite to create 5.1 and 7.1 home theatres.

Take your pick from the line to add some charisma to your living room.

Rs 1.5 lakh onwards

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CONSOLE review

Does the new Xbox Xceed Xpectations?

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala he first Xbox 360 console was released way back in 2005, giving it a head start over competitors like Sony and Nintendo. However, with the launch of the Sony Playstation 3, the Xbox, it seemed, was left a few steps behind. In retaliation, Microsoft decided to revamp the existing console and recently launched the Xbox 360 Slim, a new and improved version of the gaming console. We spent a few weeks with this console to see what improvements Microsoft has made to the original, and whether you should be picking up this latest, slimmer avatar or if you already have the original, should you replace your old Xbox.

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Overview Although the new Xbox is supposed to be a slimmer version, overall, it didn’t seem to be too different in size.

Microsoft says it is 17 per cent smaller. What has changed, however, is the shape. It is concave towards the centre on either side, and looks quite attractive compared to the boring old black box we’re used to. Also, the exterior has taken on a glossy black sheen, and we’re sure all the gamers out there are going to like the new look.

The new Xbox can stand either horizontally or vertically. The old buttons have been replaced by new, touch sensitive ones, including the power switch and the eject button.

The power switch has a ring of green lights surrounding it, and it rotates depending on which way the Xbox is oriented. Earlier, the Xbox used to have red LED lights surrounding the power switch that users associated with the ‘Red Ring of Death’, which signalled a system malfunction, but Xbox has done away with the red lights leaving only green LED ones.

The lights on the power switch also rotate depending on the orientation of the Xbox.

Connectivity The inclusion of Wi-Fi that supports up to 802.11n has been a welcome addiction to the new Xbox Slim. When you start the console, the Xbox gives you the option of scanning for wireless networks. Once you select the one you want and enter the network key, it connects instantly.

You can log into your Xbox live account after that, if you already have one, and continue playing with your customisable avatar.

On the front of the console is a small flap which conceals two USB ports. There are three additional USB ports at the back, along with an HDMI, Ethernet port and a digital optical audio-out port. The Xbox is Kinect ready and

comes with a slot for that at the back. There is also a Kensington lock slot located at the rear, for added security.

The new Xbox’s cord still has a massive power brick, although we should mention that it is significantly smaller than the one seen in the previous version of the console.

Drives One major improvement we’ve seen in the new Xbox is the inclusion of a 250GB hard drive. The earlier version used to ship with just about 256MB of internal memory, and you had to buy a hard drive separately, which often costs half as much as the console alone. In India, the Xbox Slim along with the 250GB hard drive ships for the same price as the Xbox 360 without a hard drive, so it’s really a good deal.

And in terms of space, it’s more than enough to let you store all your game saves and media on.

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The drive is enclosed in a door flap under the console, allowing it to slide into place. However, you cannot swap your old drives for this one; instead you’ll have to use an Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Kit to migrate your data.

You also won’t be able to use a third party drive as the proprietary hard drive, unlike in the PS3. You can however connect up an external hard drive via USB to access any media files that you have stored on it.

The main attraction of the Sony Playstation 3 was the inclusion of a Blu-Ray drive, which resulted in crisper, clearer images for all your games and videos. However, the Xbox Slim is still available only with a regular DVD drive, which doesn’t really give it an edge over the competition.

Hardware The Xbox includes a pair of headphones and a single

Pics at a Flick!

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala mage hosting and sharing websites such as Picasa and Photobucket are becoming increasingly popular ways to showcase your pictures, virtually.

Yahoo’s Flickr, is one of the more established websites amongst the bunch in the web-world, which enables users to upload, share their pics and interact with other photographers out there, for free. However, there are a number of limitations with the Flickr account, which is available to the public without a fee. For the more serious photographer, Flickr has introduced the Flickr Pro account, which addresses many of these issues. We spent a couple of months with Smartbuy’s very own Pro account, and found out whether it really trumps the free version.

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Starting up Setting up the Flickr Pro account was a breeze. We enter the details, punched in the code and were set to go. Once the account was active, we personalises it with our details. The next step was uploading the photos. You can browse for photos on your computer and select multiple ones at a time. How quickly you get to upload the pictures of course depends on internet speeds and file size. While we were doing it, it took us roughly 10 minutes to upload 30 pictures.

Once you upload the photos, you are offered the option to organise them. You can categorise your images into ‘Sets’, where you can label each set individually and write a short description of the images. There is an option to further organise the sets into ‘Collections’, and each collection can have up to five sets or collections. Putting together your photographs is as easy as dragging and dropping them into a box, making it easy to classify your images.

Sharing A website like Flickr is all about sharing your photos. So, there’s an option to connect your Flickr account to your blog (it supports a variety of blog formats including Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal, Typepad, etc). Once you link both up, all you have to do is click on the ‘Blog this’ button on top of your photograph and it is added to your blog page.

There are other interesting features you can add to your blog as well, including a flash or HTML badge of photos you select. If you have a camera phone, you can post directly to your blog from the phone. Another option is adding the Flickr Zeitgeist badge to your blog, which is a flash display of recent photos (choose from everyone’s, contacts and your own).

New features All prices on the Flickr website are quoted in dollars. While users will always have the option to access the free account, you have the option to go pro by paying $24.95 a year, which works out to about $2 a month.

For what you pay, you get unlimited uploads (with a maximum image size of 20MB) and storage, unlimited sets and collections, access to all your original files, stats on your account, an ad-free browsing and sharing experience and HD playback for highdefinition video uploads. The last feature is a more recent addition, and we’ll hopefully see more perks along the way. We’d especially like Pro access to the Picnik image editing software.

If you like what you get with the Pro account, you can also avail of Flickr’s other deal, which gives you a two-year account for $47.99, which works out a bit cheaper per month. If you have friends who are Flickr fans, you can gift them a Flickr Pro account by sending them a gift code via email or printing it out on a gift card.

Our Verdict For the casual photographer, the regular Flickr account should take care of your needs, however, if you use a ‘prosumer’ camera, regularly update your Flickr account and are an active member of groups on the website, then the Pro account is a must-have.

‘Freaks’ unleashed on Pacific City by ex-medical student Catalina Thorne. You can kill the ‘Freaks’ by using either firearms, explosives, running them over or attacking them with your bare hands. The game also requires you to collect ‘Orbs’ which increase your skills such as agility, an addictive part of the game. Unlike Halo, which reworked each of its sequels entirely, Crackdown 2 has been criticised for not bringing a new storyline to the game.

controller as accessories. There has been no change to the controller – even though Xbox did release a new controller with an improved D pad, we didn’t find this one bundled in the box that the review unit was shipped in.

The Xbox Slim ships with the Valhalla motherboard, which gives you about 30 per cent more space than other motherboards.

Gaming experience While there have been some changes to the exterior of the new Xbox, as a gaming console it remains the same. There is still the same user interface, and no changes have been made to the Xbox Live experience.

Although there is a provision for HDMI, the Xbox Slim does not ship with an HDMI cable.

Picture quality using the bundled composite cable was comparatively low, even on an HD TV. With the HDMI cable, the image and graphics quality should be better.

The new console is also extremely quiet when there’s a game in the DVD drive, a definite improvement over the previous version. It uses a single large fan rather than the two smaller ones found in the previous Xbox’s, which

Our verdict

probably also contributes for its quieter operation.

There are a couple of games that the console ships with, including Hexic HD, Pinball FX, Peggle and a Kingdom for Keflings. We also tried out Crackdown 2 to try and put the Xbox through its paces. The game is a third person shooter, where you can choose to be one of four agents. After the initial training, your mission is to hunt down the

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The new Xbox 360 certainly looks and feels better, and we’re hoping that Microsoft has finally gotten rid of the ‘Red Ring of Death’ problem, not just by eliminating the red lights but by making changes in its hardware. Apart from that, internally, there have been no major changes so we wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for an upgrade. However, it’s still a great console and a must-have for any gamer out there.

Love: Smaller chassis, sleek and improved exterior, more value Hate: No Blu-Ray drive, no major improvements to gaming experience Rs 21,990

MEDIA PLAYER review

‘PMP’ up the volume!

Mahananda Bohidar mixture of long hours of travel and boredom have prompted most of us these days to invest in music-enabled phones, if not go the whole hog and buy a PMP (Portable Media Player).

The need to go for a dedicated media player and not just a music phone arises when you don’t want to compromise on the quality of the music you listen to or the videos you watch. Here’s where companies like Cowon come up with products like the J3, which is the latest in the line of its portable media players with an AMOLED screen for brilliant videos and endless tweaks to make music sound better.

The J3 looks like a sleek smartphone in your hands with the brushed metallic bezel and most of the fascia by the shiny 3.3-inch wide AMOLED display.

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have been more desirable. While there are a couple of headphones in the market that are capable of giving you a better listening experience and enhancing the overall audio quality, the option of close to 40 EQ settings doesn’t allow you room to complain, as you have the freedom to tweak the acoustics to get the music to be reproduced exactly the way you want it to.

Videos Even watching videos on the AMOLED was quite a treat.

We watched a couple of .avi files and the playback was smooth and the colours rich. Files with subtitles also played back accurately although the screen real estate doesn’t allow you to focus on both the video and the subtitles together most of the time. With every video file that you playback, you can add up to 256 bookmarks that would let you resume a movie or documentary from where you had stopped watching.

The J3 comes with pre-installed tools like Notepad, Typist, and Comix among others.

However, comic book formats like .cbr are not supported by the Comix widget. You can only download .jpg formats of comic strips to view them on the J3.

Features The J3 saves you the trouble of pressing the touch buttons to shuffle songs. Just give the unit a firm shake, just one, and it effortlessly swaps tracks.

Make sure that you’ve turned on the shuffle function and enabled the sensors on your interface before you try this.

One thoughtful addition is that when you reduce or increase volume while watching a video, other controls don’t pop-up on the screen but small blue digits in one corner flash to tell you what volume you’ve chosen.

The built-in rechargeable Lithium polymer battery works wonders. With earphones plugged in, we listened to music and watched videos for about 3-4 hours and the battery had drained by about 25 per cent.

However, listening to music without the headphones i.e. with the speakers on, significantly reduced the battery charge.

User interface As you turn the player on you have the option of viewing all the features in the J3 in three different layouts.

‘Dynamic Square’ displays the colourful square icons in a 3x4 matrix on the screen. This is your usual touch-to-open, drag ‘n drop icons on the home screen. The colourful icons look quite good on the AMOLED display. ‘Counting Text’ is the more minimalistic layout and lists out all the functions in neat horizontal rows, displaying all the information pertaining to a feature on the screen itself.

For example, the sleek, horizontal touchpanel for ‘Music’ displays how many audio files are available for playback, the one for ‘Battery’ indicates charge remaining and so on. The ‘Smart Widget’ user interface lets you place your icons in multiple home screens and swipe from one to other.

The touch interface on the player is ace, without the need to jab at the screen or press anything twice. The input registers the first time you touch an icon to launch it.

Our verdict “It’s got the looks and it’s got the touch,” Mariah Carey would have crooned and we do too. With no compromises made on build quality, touch interface and audio and video capabilities, the Cowon J3 is definitely one of the better PMPs that you can get your hands on now.

Music All songs that you upload are slotted into genres, artists, album and so on. The accelerometer provides for a smooth on-screen swiping experience when you want to browse through your collection.

The sound quality of the headphones (Cowon CE1) that are bundled with the player is up to the mark although we do think a pair of betterfitting headphones or maybe in-ear plugs would

Love: Touch interface. Sleek looks. Good sound Hate: Bundled earphones could have been better. A bit pricey Rs 10,750 (4GB); Rs 12,500 (8GB) Rs 14,500 (16GB); Rs 17,999 (32GB)

Photo: S.S. Kumar

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LUXURY phones

Tasteful tête-à-tête Luxury phones from Versace and Mobiado add élan to the discerning chit-chatter Versace Unique As a high-class fashion brand that’s never decidedly subtle, it’s no surprise to see Versace’s first mobile phone oozing glamour.

Depending on your budget you can plump for a dearer ceramic or lacquered front to the hand-crafted, leatherbacked chassis.

The inset can be either 18-carat yellow gold or 316Lgrade stainless steel, and there’s a three-inch, sapphire crystal, scratch-resistant capacitive touchscreen.

LG provides the tech and the spec resembles last year’s LG Arena, with a 5-meg camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi plus Dolby Mobile sound to buff the audio.

The interface is a spruced up version of LG’s S-Class UI,

with four homescreens to festoon with widgets and shortcuts.

Naturally, Versace handled the look of the Unique and as you can see, the results are very attractive indeed.

Rs 3,44,000 onwards

Mobiado Classic 712EM A little less damaging on the bank balance than the Versace is Mobiado’s new Classic Executive model.

There’s no touchscreen here but the phone is wrought from similarly high-toned materials. Its body is carved from aerospace-grade aluminium with white sapphire crystal plates and keys and exotic wood trim – in the case of the Burl White model pictured, maple. Even the screws and bolts are top quality stainless steel.

Nokia has furnished the insides and the feature list isn’t too shabby for a phone living on its looks. The 712EM’s OS is Symbian Series 40, so you can hop onto Nokia’s Ovi Store and download compatible apps and software.

There’s support for A-GPS and free Ovi Maps for navigation, a 5-meg snapper, a max video resolution of 640x480 pixels at 15fps and HSDPA. The lack of Wi-Fi is disappointing, but then it is only cheap.

Rs 1,30,000

ALSO CONSIDER Gresso iPhone 4 Black Diamond 500K-worth of 200-year old African blackwood, 18-carat gold and black diamonds, with a titanium PVD coating that prevents signal loss.

Rs 4,56,000

T3 India

AUTO news

Bentley New Continental GT

BMW Concept 6 Series Coupe

Snazzy showstoppers S. Muralidhar

he Paris Motor Show has grown in importance over the last few years and this year’s edition too didn’t fail to impress with the number of new models and concepts that took centre stage.

The biennial automotive show in the French capital has acquired global significance with an increasing amount of participation from international car manufacturers who have started launching cars that are not just relevant for the European market, but also fit for a global introduction.

Further, this year’s show is also very similar to the previous (2008) edition with its focus on concepts, particularly on hybrids and electrics. But, there were quite a few world premieres too. With the increasingly stringent emission regulations staring the industry in the face, going electric, atleast with some of their vehicles, looks like an inevitability to luxury car makers.

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Concepts and premieres Speaking about concepts, the two that captured the minds and hearts of onlookers at this year’s edition were the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (cover photo) and the Jaguar C-X75 concept.

The Sesto Elemento, meaning the sixth element, is aptly named since Carbon is the sixth element in the periodic table and the concept is almost entirely made out of carbon-fibre. The kerb weight of the Sesto Elemento is a mere 999 kgs and with a rated peak output of 570 hp, this concept car can potentially boast of the highest power-to-weight ratio. Featuring Lambo trademark design all-around, the Sesto Elemento sports a naked-design both on the outside and for the interiors, with the focus being entirely on weight reduction and innovative use of carbon-fibre reinforced plastics.

Jaguar C-X75

Volkswagen Passat

Audi A7 Sportback

Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 CDI

New Suzuki Swift

at the French capital The Jaguar C-X75, on the other hand, is about as extreme, though very different. The legendary British brand, now in the hands of Tata Motors, is celebrating its diamond jubilee with the C-X75 concept, one of its most radical designs ever.

Looking vaguely familiar, the C-X75 coupe concept is a two-seat high-performance sports car that sports a range extended electric powertrain. The concept is powered by a stack of Lithium-ion batteries and the range extender is a pair of gas micro-turbines that offer about 188 bhp of power. Despite being electric, the four traction motors (one in each wheel) help generate a whopping 780 bhp of power and Jaguar says that the C-X75 can go from 0 to 100 kmph in 3.4 seconds!

The other important concept at the Paris show this year is the Audi Quattro Concept. Paying tribute to and drawing inspiration from the original Audi Ur-Quattro of 1980, the new Quattro Concept is smaller, with a lower roofline and is also lighter. It is said to use some of the underpinnings of the RS5 and features a turbocharged, in-line five cylinder engine with a rated power output of 408 bhp. The Quattro system here is said to offer a 40:60 rearbiased torque split. Some of the other concepts were the BMW Concept 6 Series Coupe, Lotus Esprit Concept, Kia Pop concept and the Mazda Shinari concept.

There were quite a few new car launches too at this year’s Paris Motor Show. The significant ones included the new 2011 Volkswagen Passat, which is likely to make it to India early next year. The other major launches were the new Bentley Continental GT, the Audi A7 Sportback, the new Chevrolet Aveo and Orlando, the Honda Jazz Hybrid, the new Range Rover Evoque, and the new 2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS class.

Hyundai ix20

Porsche 911 Speedster

Honda Jazz Hybrid Photos: S. Muralidhar

AUTO focus

Fiat Linea: T-Jet set go S. Muralidhar he Fiat Linea is one of the most desirable sedans in the C-segment in terms of design and value.

Despite the choice of two engines it offered including the key 1.3-litre advanced multijet diesel engine, buyers for the Linea missed more options. The need must have been felt more so with the 1,368cc FIRE petrol engine, which a few buyers would have found wanting for a bit more of power and low end torque.

Currently, the Fiat Linea caters largely to the 40 per cent of the sedan buyer population in the lower end of the price segment represented by the C-segment. Clearly, there is an opportunity for Fiat to take on the fight in the Rs 8 lakh plus category. On the other hand, the buyer’s performance expectations are also higher when it comes to Fiat cars.

A more capable mill in the Linea also made sense for Fiat because the competition in the segment was heating up with the likes of the Volkswagen Vento being launched.

A differentiator for the Linea was pending.

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with the existing variants are minimal. Prominent T-Jet logo and badging both at the front and the rear stand out, as does the chrome exhaust lip. Chrome accents have been added and the T-Jet also comes with new design 16-inch alloy wheels that sport wider 205/55 R16 tyres. The T-Jet is also being offered with a new sun-beam beige body colour.

Fiat’s decision to bring in the T-Jet is said to have been

driven by feedback it had received from Linea customers.

Premium interiors To make the interiors of the new variant more luxurious in keeping with its proposed positioning, the T-Jet gets premium, soft-feel imported leather upholstery for the seats and a soft-touch dashboard finish with chrome inserts. It also gets auto-airconditioning, with rear knee and foot level aircon vents for rear passengers.

The infotainment system has been carried into the T-Jet with the Blue&Me hands-free package. But the new T-Jet also gets remote audio control for the rear passenger.

Other features include a foldable key with remote lock and boot release, and auto down power windows for all the four windows.

Brand new heart Crank the engine and the new Linea T-Jet’s real change comes alive. Thrumming inside the bonnet is a turbocharged petrol engine, a first in the segment. The 1,368cc aluminium engine is a light-weight unit and adds a mere 50 kgs to the existing FIRE petrol engine. But in terms of performance, the new engine pumps it up and delivers almost 27 per cent more power and 80 per cent more torque.

Aiding the engine in delivering the dollops of additional power and torque is a turbocharger that operates at high 2.2 bar pressure. The increased breathing and consequent enhanced combustion leads to the T-Jet engine delivering

Linea’s latest In comes the new Linea T-Jet. It is a little over a year and half since the launch of the Linea and though the sedan hasn’t aged at all, Fiat has chosen to bring in a new engine to capture the hearts of some of the most demanding buyers in the segment. The new Linea T-Jet is loaded with tech and will create a segment benchmark.

Walk around the new Linea T-Jet and the differences

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Photos: S. Muralidhar

a class leading peak power of 114 PS at 5,000 rpm. On the other hand, the maximum torque has now got a huge boost to 207 Nm, available from a really low 2,200 engine rpm level.

Compare this with the Fiat Multijet which generates 209 Nm of peak torque at 2,000 rpm. Only, the T-Jet is a petrol mill and the Multijet is, of course, a diesel engine!

The new T-Jet engine is a four-cylinder, 16-valve, DOHC unit. The turbocharger not only enables the engine to deliver more power and a very diesel engine like torque, but it also helps the engine meet the even more stringent Euro V emission norms. To handle the higher power output, the engine’s pistons have been strengthened and the spark plugs too have been chosen to meet ‘race car’ requirements – according to Fiat India officials.

The engine also features an oil cooler to help evacuate heat better. To improve refinement levels, the engine’s double over head camshaft now gets a lightened drivetrain

to reduce the friction levels, and the aluminium cylinder head sports a compact design. The engine also gets a double mass flywheel for countering vibrations and to make the operation smoother overall.

Testing ground I get to drive the Linea T-Jet in Aamby Valley, near Lonavla and the immediate surge in low-end torque when I step on the throttle is addictive, to say the least, winding up enough interest in me to try and test its claimed / rated acceleration capability. With the loads of low-end torque available on tap and the linear delivery of power, the Linea T-Jet is capable of going from standstill to 100 kmph in 11.14 seconds.

Thanks to the amount of low-end torque available and the consequent lowered need for shifting down the fivespeed gearbox, the Linea T-Jet is also said to be capable of delivering higher fuel efficiency of up to 14.6 kmpl.

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Straight line acceleration is really impressive and the car’s ride and handling have also been tweaked with the addition of the new larger wheels and wider tyres. The suspension set up remains unchanged, but the ground clearance has been increased by about 5mm to 170mm, possibly to help it handle the impact of the new wheels and tyres. To help cope with the new, more powerful engine, braking ability for the new Linea T-Jet also gets a boost with disc brakes on all four wheels.

The Linea T-Jet will initially be available only in dealerships in Mumbai and Delhi (NCR) and will later be rolled out in other cities in a phased manner. The T-Jet will be available with two variants T-Jet and T-Jet Plus, with the former missing leather upholstery and featuring 15-inch steel wheels. Ex-showroom prices will be in the region of Rs 8.6 lakh and Rs 9 lakh for the T-Jet and T-Jet Plus respectively.

Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos Marqueterie

FASHIONABLE art

An artistic stroke to fashion Anushya Mamtora t was not long ago that Chennai Silks set the Guinness World record for the most expensive saree.

Apart from the gold, diamonds and precious stones that adorned the six yards of finest silk, it was the awe-inspiring hand woven adaptations of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings that took everybody’s breath away. While the pallu had been woven with the famous ‘Lady Musicians’ painting, the border was embellished with ten other masterpieces of the painter. Curious shoppers to art connoisseurs flocked to feast their eyes and the saree was priced at a whopping Rs 40 lakh.

In a land far far away from the haven of silk down south, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami transforms the trademark Louis Vuitton monogram bag with multi-coloured logos and made it the brand’s bestseller.

This nexus between artists and fashion seems to be one for keeps. How else can one explain the increasing association between top brands and phenomenal painters! In fact, the association of a famous artist with a piece of fabric or jewel immediately ups its artistic value. And why not, for those who are looking to wear the art either inspired or created by their favourite artists, this amalgamation completely works.

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Inspiration – factor For many designers and labels, the artist becomes

the muse. A little bit of their personal life, their professional years, contemporaries, style, masterpieces…they all merge to come out in the form of a piece of jewel, a whole fashion line or even just a bag!

Christian Dior Couture Spring 2009 drew inspiration from Flemish painters Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes and the in-

fluence was seen in the form of colour contrast and palette, textures and lines of the ensembles.

Luxury watchmaker Jaeger LeCoultre’s Atmos Marqueterie clock is an automatically opening cabinet decorated as a tribute to Austrian painter Gustav Klimt with precious wood and gold leaf inlays while the Rolex Cellini collection pays homage to Benvenuto Cellini, a world renowned sculptor and artist.

The legendary artist Amrita Shergill recently surfaced in the fashion scene in the form of chic ensembles.

Prominent Pakistani fashion designer Deepak Perwani took elements from Shergill’s era and her contemporaries and blended them to produce digital prints that were sashayed down the ramp in the form of bold and easy clothing. And he named the collection after her too.

Fendi baguette designed by Jeff Koons

Personal touch There are increasing instances of artists creatively challenging themselves to step out of their spheres and lend a unique touch to fashion. Renowned artist S.H. Raza is one such charismatic personality who has recently associated himself with jewellery brand ORRA and fashion label Satya Paul. While ORRA launched ten beautifully crafted pendants that depicted a Raza painting in fine meenakari work, it took a leaf off his trademark ‘bindu’ that is the focus in all of his paintings. Adding a personal touch was Raza’s

Satya Paul Raza scarf

signature on the back of the pendant, a certificate signed by the artist himself and an artistically designed book that talks of his philosophy and the story behind each pendant.

While these pendants are exclusive and are priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 11 lakh each, Satya Paul made Raza’s fans get a piece of his art for lesser in his limited edition ‘Satya Paul Raza scarves’.

Anjolie Ela Menon is another well acclaimed artist who created a miniature painting inspired by the Renaissance era that metamorphosed into a precious and stunning pendant for ORRA. In 2007, Fendi’s idea of roping in top contemporary artists to paint their mind on a ‘blank slate’ canvas baguette created by Silvia Fendi got a thumbs up from fashionistas. Recently, sculptor Anish Kapoor grabbed the limelight for the BZero1 limited edition finger rings he designed exclusively for Bvlgari.

These are but a few popular instances. The more one delves into the world of fashion, the more one sees the invisible hand and creative imagination of an artist.

Creative nexus The good news is that international labels are warming up

Leather art Colouring techniques and finishes takes Portisidecafe’s Dak Bangla and Ballimaran collection to a different level. From photo frames to jewellery boxes and desk accessories, the use of patterns and materials is interesting. Available at its store in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

Price on request

to Indian artists adding an arty touch to their products, and sometimes, the Indian touch too. Indian brands too look at collaborating with artists for a limited edition collection and are receiving an overwhelming response.

“Indian art is gaining a strong foothold across the globe and working with such renowned artists was a dream come true. We have been working intensively for over three years on the Raza collection. The idea behind getting these artists was to offer the high end buyer something new and different. With this collaboration, it is established that art need not just adorn your walls.” explains Vijay Jain, CEO of ORRA who collaborated with prominent artists for exclusive collections.

On the other hand, luxury labels are making a beeline for Chinese contemporary artists. From Swatch to Salvatore Ferragamo, the urge to team up with out-of-the-box thinkers and come up with bestsellers is the ‘it’ thing in the fashion circles.

And when you unwrap Fendi’s ‘Artist Baguette’ bag in a stark white coated canvas which comes with ten colour markers to paint your imagination wild, the nexus just steps over to a whole new level.

Arty Interiors

Anjolie Ela Menon pendant for ORRA

Elegant décor Adding an artistic touch to the festive spirit, Address Home’s newest collection includes uniquely designed lamps, platters, candles and candle holders. Available at its stores in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Rs 1,290 onwards (lantern in pic)

Folk touch Tribal art and craft is definitely in. From hand painted mirror frames with traditional motifs, intricate steel jaali lantern and papier-mache products, Baaya Design’s latest range is available at its store in Mumbai.

Rs 190 onwards

Smartbuy

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October 13, 2010

BEYOND the hour

Photos: Pradipta K. Mohapatra

Seiko’s family heirloom gets ‘Grander’ Pradipta K. Mohapatra inally this April, the responsibility of managing Seiko’s empire, worldwide, fell on the shoulders of Shinji Hattori, the great grandson of the company’s founder Kintaro Hattori.

Hattori, no stranger to the world of horology has been waiting patiently for this day for a rather long time.

Seiko Watch Company has seen better financial days.

The last eight quarters have been rather brutal with the watch industry taking a sharp dip and the average price recovery going down.

For the first time last year, Seiko watches took a detour from Hattori’s earlier avowed policy of moving towards premium pricing. In his own words, “During the current downturn, our customers demanded more low price models. We had to listen to our customers carefully.” Fortunately for Shinji Hattori, the watch industry seems to be returning to sanity.

Hattori announced two key initiatives after his taking over as the president of Seiko holdings.

Firstly, merging Seiko Instruments, the watch manufacturing company of the group with Seiko Holdings, so that watch business leverages Holding company’s financial clout better.

Secondly, Hattori has pulled the best watch ever made

by Seiko from the family heirloom, gave it a new look, added new technologies to it and is now ready to present it to the world. It goes by the name ‘Grand Seiko’. This is the best gift he could have given to Seiko Watches.

F

Grand Seiko This is truly the golden jubilee of the Grand Seiko. The brand was introduced as Seiko’s high-end mechanical watch in 1960. For the next nine years, Seiko engineers worked hard to make Grand Seiko really word class.

Those were the days of accuracy. Many companies in the world were working towards bringing mechanical watches’ accuracy to -2/+4 seconds per day.

The key to high accuracy in mechanical watches depends on increasing the frequency of balance wheel. The faster the better! Finally in 1969, Seiko crossed the magical speed of 36,000 vibrations per hour (VPH).

Imagine what it physically means. The balance wheel has to vibrate 10 times every second to achieve this level of accuracy. Unfortunately for Seiko, it was not the only company to achieve this.

Within days of Seiko’s announcement, two other companies announced crossing 36,000 VPH. They were Zenith (model El Primero) and Girard Perregaux. Rolex and a whole lot of other movements followed, but clearly the winner in the space was El Primero.

Seiko branded their innovation well, by naming their 36,000 VPH model as ‘Hi-Beat’. More work needed to be done by Seiko again.

The new game this time was power reserve. Now back to the basics. When the vibration rate goes upto 36,000, the watch needs enormous amounts of energy to consume.

The only source of energy in a mechanical watch is the main spring. You either wind it once a day or the movement of the rotor in the automatic watch winds up the main spring.

Therefore, power reserve means getting a bigger main spring or more than one main spring. This increases the size of the watch and reduces the aesthetic freedom given to the designer. Seiko engineers achieved it by working on completely new materials for constructing the main spring.

Soon enough, Seiko achieved in devising two diverse attributes to exist together - 36,000 VPH and 72 hours power reserve - in the same watch.

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October 13, 2010

Why 72 hours you might ask? Well, the time most people forget to wear or wind a watch is over the weekend.

To have enough winding left for Monday morning, you need one more day. Therefore a three day’s reserve was considered optimum.

Grand Seiko now became special. Added to it were automatic rotors, chronographs, tachymeters and a whole lot of others to make it a watch for the really discerning.

Then Seiko used the old fashioned formula which very few watch makers use today. Namely, every component is manufactured one piece at a time and every piece is produced in its own factory by using watch makers who have been assembling watches for at least 20 years.

In the words of Seiko’s worldwide Marketing Director, “We will rather produce and sell less, than leaving Grand Seiko in the hands of anybody but a master watchmaker.”

If you thought it ended here, Grand Seiko now adopts a brand new technology – Spring Drive.

Grand Seiko Spring Drive The ultimate in horology is just about to step into the commercial world - Spring Drive technology. The third technology, beyond mechanical and quartz, Spring Drive uses the best of both. So the accuracy standards expected out of a spring drive is +/- 5 seconds, per month.

The new Grand Seiko is scheduled to be launched worldwide and comes with a choice of technology namely quartz, mechanical and spring drive.

Look out for the Seiko family heirloom in Seiko’s first exclusive showroom in India that is ready to be opened in Express Avenue in Chennai on 19th October, 2010.

The author is an amateur horologist and can be reached at pradip@cfi.co.in

WATCH collection

Anim al ‘p recio us’ p lane t

Add i othe ng a sp rwis ell of doe e tri its o s wat wonde te anim wn to t r h c one h and t s with al them e . Th t e h h , e i Ch s mot eyes ere a her glitterin opard r o e n 1 o !

3m Avai ore f pearl g owl la p to fe New ble: The ast enguin Chop Delh y our ard Price i and on re Mumb Boutiqu a ques es, i t

New York captured!

Golden Dior

Dazzling in a yellow gold dial, this Chiffre Rouge timepiece with its ‘Irreducible’ calibre and brown alligator strap is a man’s delight.

Available: Dior boutiques Rs 18.5 lakh

For the King and Queen Roger Dubuis brings to India its exquisite KingSquare collection for ‘her’ and ‘him’. This one for women features a titanium case, rose gold crown, mother-of-pearl, satin-finished leather strap and a whole lot of diamonds.

Available: Select watch outlets Rs 13,82,600 (ladies) and Rs 63,98,000 (men)

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October 13, 2010

The essence of the vibrant city seeps into Harry Winston’s Avenue Squared A2 New York that features a dual time zone dial and brushed silver punctuated with diamonds, and an all diamond one too.

Available: Harry Winston Boutique, New Delhi Price on request