Smartbuy issue dated January 26, 2011

Smartbuy Business Line

G A D G E T S

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A U T O |

L U X U R Y

www.blsmartbuy.com

Stretching the A8L’s legs In the city of palaces Page 8

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Sony NEX-5 reviewed Micro Four Thirds vs DSLRs Office fashion, simplified

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 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

Touch and go Amkette Wi-Key Touch This handy device from Amkette transforms your LCD TV into a large screen PC. All you have to do is connect your laptop to your telly via an HDMI cable, connect up the Wi Key Touch and you’re ready to go. It also connects up to your Xbox or PS3 for an enhanced gaming experience. The device offers up to 10 metres of wireless freedom, and claims to be compatible with Mac, Windows and most tablet PCs. Rs 2,495

Flaunt it! Sony VAIO YB Series

Sound blaster Logitech Z623

The latest in the VAIO line-up of laptops, the YB series is fitted with AMD Vision Technology that gives you smooth HD playback, faster Internet browsing and a better gaming experience. The screen is an 11.6-inch wide display, and the laptops weigh just 1.46 kg, making them easy to carry around. Take your pick from pink, silver and green colours.

Rs 26,990

The latest 2.1 sound system from Logitech is the THX-certified Z62. The system is designed with front speakers that deliver dialogue and ambient sounds as crisp and clear as it would be in a theatre. The subwoofer carries powerful, deep bass from the system as it recreates the roar of a jet engine or the sound of a collapsing bridge.

The RMS output of the unit is 200W and you can club it with your PC or telly.

Rs 11, 495

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Eyes wide open Philips Cinema 21:9 Philips Cinema, the latest flat-panel from the company boasts of a 21:9 widescreen aspect ratio and the proprietary Ambilight Spectra 3 technology. These features along with the Full HD 3D option give you a truly immersive 3D movie experience. The TV also has other unique features like 2560 x 1080 resolution, 400Hz Refresh Rate and Perfect Natural Motion for ultra-smooth Full HD movies and Philips Net TV with Wi-Fi that allows you to wirelessly enjoy the online world.

To be announced

Groove to the beat Zebmate Cinema

Hi-def shootout Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link MX HD This media player from Iomega lets you watch content from your USB hard drive on your telly in high definition. The player supports a variety of formats including MPEG4, DivX and WMV files.

Connecting up to your TV is easy with options for HDMI, Composite and Optical Audio cables.

Interactive menus that let you browse folders, create playlists, play slideshows, view subtitles, etc.

Rs 4,499

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Load up all your music, videos and photographs onto the Zebmate Cinema, a portable media player from Zebronics. The device sports a 4.3inch touch screen and weighs just about 128 grams. The TV-out function lets you enjoy your digital media content at 720p definition when you connect this to a high-def TV. The player comes with an in-built memory of 8GB and also has a memory card slot to expand capacity.

Rs 4,200

TECH beat

The CES that was!

will no doubt keep at it. What else is there to do when they’re not designing iPad clones?

So far, most people haven’t expressed any interest in 3D – maybe because it requires buying a new TV, new Blu-ray player and all new movie discs. But Panasonic, Sony and others paraded 3D still cameras and 3D camcorders this year, in hopes of jump-starting the whole mess.

Oversights As always, the most fun at CES was in finding the little gems that weren’t on the obligatory list: radar detectors, pico projectors, baby monitors, no-name e-book readers, car theatre and on and on.

General Electric, for example, made its first CES appearance to show how high tech can mean low energy bills. The company estimates that by 2012, 40 million American homes will be billed for electricity depending on the time of day they use it. GE’s new appliances, therefore, communicate with your electric meter to shift the heaviest loads to off-peak times: dishwashers, fridges and water heaters that wait until the wee, cheap hours of the night to do their washing, defrosting and heating.

Headturners

David Pogue he star of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show wasn’t even there.

That might sound like an odd remark, but it’s true. Look, summing up the major trends of the biggest electronics trade show is more or less hopeless; there were 2,700 booths and 1,40,000 attendees, for heaven’s sake. But if you had to name the major player, it had to be the Apple iPad – and Apple didn’t even show up.

Seriously. They should have called it the Consumer iPad Show. Here were iPad cases, iPad holders, iPad keyboards, iPad chargers, iPad alarm clocks – and 85 iPad clones. It seemed as if anyone who knew the phone number of an Asian touch-screen factory had a tablet prototype.

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Tablet wars “These companies are like 6-year-olds on a soccer team,” one company representative told me. “The ball goes over here, and they all run after it in a blob. ‘Tablet!’ ‘Tablet!’

‘Tablet!’

Most of the new tablets run Google’s Android mobile operating system – a new version that Google says is better suited for a tablet’s larger screen. There are exceptions, though. The great-looking, forthcoming BlackBerry Playbook runs its own special operating system, for example (bummer – no well-stocked app store). And HewlettPackard’s eagerly awaited tablets weren’t on display at the show, but the company makes no secret that they’ll run WebOS, an attractive chunk of software that Palm developed for its Palm Pre app phones. (HP bought Palm last year for $1.2 billion.)

The new tablets would take aim at the current iPad’s weak spots. The rivals have built-in cameras, for example, or offer a choice of screen sizes.

This battle should make for some fascinating spectatorship. One major reason Android phones have become so popular is that when you bought an iPhone, you had to sign up for a contract with a cellular service provider.

But with a tablet, you don’t particularly need a cellular

connection. Plenty of people lead long, happy lives having only Wi-Fi connections on their tablets. In other words, the iPad-versus-clones battle will boil down to quality, price and features – exactly as it should be.

Tech-integration The second theme of CES was, once again, Technologies We Desperately Wish You’d Want. For the 417th straight CES, the industry trotted out yet another vision of the Connected Home (your appliances, home theatre and other gadgets all on a big network). And for the 417th straight year, nobody present will have any interest.

This year, too, was the biggest push yet toward connecting your TV to the Internet. Not to download movies and TV shows; that’s a natural, popular feature. No, we’re talking about browsing the web and doing e-mail on your TV screen – an idea that dies year after year, and will die again this time (sorry, Google and Yahoo). Nobody wants to sit down at the TV and pick up a keyboard and mouse, except maybe a few people on the ‘lunatech’ fringe.

Dimension debate The technology the industry most wants to push down our throats, though, is 3D. For the second CES in a row, blurry, double-vision flat panels were hung on every available surface of the Las Vegas Convention Centre – televisions that looked sharp only when you put on ridiculous-looking 3D glasses.

Many of those glasses are just as big, heavy and expensive as last year’s crop (at $100 a pair, exactly how many friends will earn a place at your Super Bowl party?).

Fortunately, an effort was clearly in progress to make the glasses less hideous – or even to eliminate them altogether. More companies than ever (Sony, Toshiba and others) had new, glasses-less 3D TV sets on display.

They’re pretty awful; you have to sit exactly dead-centre, which means that only one person at a time can watch.

Even then, the image isn’t sharp; in fact, it seems to be made up of little beads. But the engineers and marketers Smartbuy

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Nobody knows if Casio’s new, still unreleased Tryx digital camera will take decent photos. But its design is fresh and ingenious. You clutch an outer frame; the touch-screen camera part spins freely inside it, like a gyroscope. You can point it away from you, toward you or at any angle, which is handy when you use the outer frame as a stand to prop the camera up by itself.

The darling of the show, though, may have been the new Motorola Atrix. At first glance, it’s pretty much like any other modern Android app phone: front and back cameras, biggish screen. You swipe your finger across a fingerprint scanner to simultaneously unlock and wake the phone.

But the twist is the accompanying laptop. It’s beautiful – like a black MacBook Air – incredibly sleek, thin and light (1.1 kg). But it has no processor, storage or memory of its own.

Instead, you snap the phone into the laptop. You don’t have to shut anything down or enter any special mode. It’s like putting the brain into Frankenstein’s monster. Suddenly, whatever was on the phone’s screen now fills the laptop’s screen, giving you much more real estate, plus a trackpad and full keyboard.

You can attach an external hard drive and mouse, if you like. The phone provides the processor, memory, Internet connection and, of course, all your photos, videos, music and files.

It’s a very clever idea. Now you don’t have two copies of everything. You don’t have to sync anything (music, photos, videos, mail, Office files) – your phone contains all the live copies. And what a neat twist that you can run the hundreds of thousands of Android apps on a full-size screen. The Atrix seems like a winning idea that could save a lot of mobile workers a lot of weight, hassle and equipment.

There were, of course, about 2,695 other gadgets on display at CES this year – and the show itself was a lot more exciting than last year’s Tanking Economy Edition.

In the end, that – the resurgence of innovation and investment – may be the biggest CES news of all.

New York Times News Service

PHOTOG guide Some DSLR lenses are compatible with Micro Four Thirds cameras, however there might be certain drawbacks, such as autofocus and optical image stabilisation not working. Another factor is that DSLR lenses are bulky, and therefore not really suited to the more compact Micro Four Thirds body, making the camera look disproportionate and also making them difficult to handle.

Features Because of their size, and the elimination of the mirror box, the design and build of Micro Four Thirds cameras are flexible, much like pocket digicams. They are also available in a variety of colours, appealing to a large section of consumers who aren’t professional photographers, but want a camera that looks attractive as well as takes a good shot.

Like DSLRs, Micro Four Thirds come with a bunch of scene modes, but also have full manual function on offer.

So you get the standard P, S, A and M modes, as well as control of ISO, White Balance, Exposure and Metering.

Some cameras like the Olympus E-PL1 come with digital zoom as well. The later Panasonic DMC models even come with HD recording, so you can take videos in high definition.

Pros and Cons

Mirror-less reflections Ketaki Bhojnagarwala f you’ve been bitten by the photography bug, chances are that at some point you’ll be looking to make the upgrade from a simple point-and-shoot to a more professional DSLR. So far, there hasn’t really been a middle path – a semi-professional camera for photographers who want to shoot great looking photos, but don’t want to deal with the complicated functions of a DSLR. This is where Micro Four Thirds comes in – patented in 2008, you now have major players like Panasonic and Olympus who use the technology. So could a Micro Four Thirds camera potentially replace a DSLR?

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How it works The Micro Four Thirds system is a follow up from the Four Thirds system, which is a new, open standard for DSLR cameras. While the Four Thirds system focussed on a 100 per cent digital concept and high mobility, the Micro Four Thirds system takes this one step further and aims to drastically reduce the size of DSLR cameras, while using the same 4/3 type image sensor used by the Four Thirds system. Micro Four Thirds completely eliminates the mirror box from the camera, and uses Live View for shooting instead. By doing away with the mirror box, the flange of the camera is effectively reduced, making the camera much more compact.

Since a Micro Four Thirds camera’s body is smaller, the compatible lenses also need to be reduced in size. This has been achieved by making the lens mount diameter up to 6mm smaller, while still allowing the lens to transmit the same amount of optical flux as a Four Thirds camera. It also uses an 11-contact connector between the lens and the camera, which is two more than the 9-contact connector on Four Thirds cameras. However, it is still possible to use Four Thirds lenses on a Micro Four Thirds camera using an adapter.

Today, the main players in the Micro Four Thirds category are Panasonic and Olympus. Panasonic introduced

the first Micro Four Thirds camera in 2008, the Lumix DMC-G1, which shipped with a standard 14-42 mm lens.

Olympus followed suit with the Pen E-P1 camera in 2009.

Both cameras used contrast-detection autofocus and eliminated the optical viewfinder. Subsequently, both companies followed up with further launches in the Micro Four Thirds series, so now photographers can choose from 11 cameras in the category.

Lenses One of the main reasons people shift from pocket digicams to DSLRs is to be able to use the different lenses on offer.

Big players in the DSLR segment such as Nikon, Canon and Sony produce a large selection of lenses, and other lens manufacturers like Tamron, Sigma and Tokina make compatible lenses too.

In the Micro Four Thirds category, currently the variety of lenses is limited to what Olympus and Panasonic have on offer. Olympus Micro Four Thirds lenses are available under the brand name M.Zuiko, and include a standard 14-42mm lens, 17mm pancake lens and 75-300 mm zoom lens, among others. Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras are also compatible with standard Zuiko Four Third lenses, with the use of an adapter.

Panasonic’s Lumix G micro system also manufactures a variety of lenses, including a new 3D lens.

Obviously the first advantage of a Micro Four Thirds camera would be its size. For example, any of the Lumix series of cameras with a pancake lens is easily pocketsized, and much easier to carry around for everyday photography than a bulky DSLR. The electronic viewfinder also makes it especially easy to adjust exposure, White Balance, etc - giving you a real time preview of how your image will look before you snap the shutter button. This is a more familiar feature for those used to a pocket digicam, making it easier to frame the shot than using an optical viewfinder.

One reason why some photographers prefer Micro Four Thirds cameras is due to inbuilt image stabilisation, which is offered on the Olympus Pen series. This means that even vintage lenses (with the right adapter) can be used on the cameras to achieve great results.

The downside of this is of course the lack of compatible lenses, which limits the usage of these cameras. For example, for sports or wildlife photography, a telephoto lens with a maximum zoom of 400mm or 600mm is a must, and as of now the highest zoom available for Micro Four Thirds is 300mm.

The mirrorless design of these cameras also means that changing lenses can expose the sensor to more dust than DSLRs, which have a mirror and a shutter protecting the sensor.

Another downside obviously is the fact that that these cameras are priced almost the same, or in some cases even more, than DSLRs. So for a photographer who wants to go pro, it makes more sense to invest in a DSLR. The Micro Four Thirds category is fairly limited and new, which also makes the resale value of the cameras less.

Bottomline Micro Four Thirds cameras have pioneered a change in traditional DSLR design, and even gained a large fan following. However, some factors such as lack of options, high cost and competition from rivals such as Sony’s NEX cameras have deterred many professionals from opting for them. Still, the concept is fairly new, so time will probably tell whether the change will catch on with other players like Nikon and Canon. Until then, if you want to go pro, it might make more sense to opt for a DSLR instead.

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CAMERA review

Product photos: S.S. Kumar Test photos: Ketaki Bhojnagarwala

The world in your hands Ketaki Bhojnagarwala e’ve just talked about how Micro Four Thirds cameras are changing the norms for DSLR design. Shutterbugs have been eagerly waiting to find out if major players like Nikon, Canon and Sony will make an entry into the category, but Sony made quite a splash when it introduced the NEX series of interchangeable lens cameras. The two cameras in the category are NEX-3 and NEX-5. We put the more high-end NEX-5 to test, to see if Sony makes the cut with mirrorless design cameras.

W Body and Build

The first thing you notice when you hold the NEX-5 is how small and light it is. The body is constructed out of magnesium-alloy, compared to the NEX-3’s polycarbonate body.

That, and the fact that the NEX-5 offers full HD/AVCHD recording is what puts it ahead of the NEX-3 – in all other respects the cameras are the same. What makes this camera really special is that while it has a mirrorless design, this has the same sensor size as a normal DSLR (unlike a Panorama is a clean shot with minimal distortion in stitching

Micro Four Thirds camera).

For a camera that claims to offer a full host of DSLRtype features, the NEX-5 has very few physical controls.

The selector wheel which lets you switch between scenes and modes on most DSLRs is missing on the NEX-5. The camera has an HDMI port which lets you connect and playback high-def videos on your HD TV. The tilt-able LCD screen is convenient, but you instinctively look for an optical viewfinder with this camera – that’s how much it feels like a DSLR. Interestingly, there is no inbuilt flash, instead the camera has an accessory port on top, to which you can attach the compact flash that comes with it.

The NEX-5 ships with a standard 18-55mm lens, which is an E mount lens, different from the A mount lenses that come with most Sony DSLRs. The lens has a silvery, metallic finish, and feels much more sturdy than the conventional black ‘plasticky’ DSLR lenses. The only downside about E-mount lenses is of course their limited range.

As of now, apart from the 18-55mm lens, you can opt for a 16mm pancake lens or an 18-200mm telephoto lens. Sony

also supplies an A-mount adapter, but we suspect that using one of the bulky A-mount lenses on the NEX-5’s compact frame will not only make it look monstrous but also make it difficult to shoot.

User Interface What you get in the form of controls is the bare minimum.

There is a Menu button, but mostly you have to navigate using the scroll wheel. There are dedicated buttons for flash, exposure compensation, drive mode and display – but apart from that everything else depends upon which mode you choose.

The shoot mode brings up your standard P,S,A and M options, as well as a Intelligent Auto, Anti-Motion Blur, Panorama and 3D Panorama.

The Panorama shot worked pretty well, with minimum distortion when stitching together the different images.

The 3D panorama looks pretty much the same on the LCD display, but is supposed to have a 3D effect when played back on a 3D TV. The Intelligent Auto mode takes care of everything, but

HDR before and after: More detail in the shadows and softer colours post HDR

you can control the Background Defocus by turning the scroll wheel. This works especially well for portrait shots where you want the subject in focus and the background blurred.

Unlike most pocket digicams out there, there are only a few scenes to choose from in the NEX-5. It’s actually much less confusing, and you really won’t miss a ‘Snow’ or ‘Fireworks’ scene with this camera. There is an interesting Hand-held Twilight mode, which automatically combines six shots for dynamic range in low light.

Apart from that there is an HDR mode, which Sony DSLR fans will love. The Auto-HDR function overlaps three shots of different exposures, and brings out detail in the shadow areas, and makes colours softer. This works especially well for landscapes and portraits.

You can program the LCD to be pretty informative, with details about mode, scene, White Balance, ISO, etc displayed. The battery indicator displays battery charge as a percentage – very useful if you want to know exactly how much juice you have left.

While the camera is a delight to use in Auto mode, if you’re a DSLR user, you might find it difficult to use manual functions. For one, there’s no direct way to get to P,S,A, and M modes. Autofocus and Metering are in different menus, so it takes a while to get all your settings right.

The camera allows exposure compensation only up to two shots, which is quite a disappointment. One convenient feature for those who are new to manual functions is that when you make changes to exposure or shutter speed, you can see the difference it makes to the picture on the LCD, before you take the shot. Of course, the results aren’t always accurate, but it still helps.

It works even better when using some of the Creative Styles like Vivid or Black & White.

Results The camera picks up ambient light really well, and we

Macro shot shows detail and good colour reproduction

were able to take exceptional low light shots. We tried some shots in extremely dim lighting

without the flash, and although the results were slightly blurred, using a tripod would have easily made a big difference.

We had some problems when it came to focussing. The camera has Face and Smile detection, although it refused to detect some faces if there was a group shot. Some of the photos which looked really crisp on the LCD were blurred when we transferred them to the computer.

Colour reproduction was spot on in artificial light, however sometimes in bright daylight, reds and yellows tended to bleed out. Apart from that, colours were pretty natural and not over-saturated, especially when it came to capturing skin tone correctly.

You can crank the ISO up to 12800, and until ISO 800 the pictures were completely clean. It’s only after ISO 3200 that you start noticing noise.

The videos played back beautifully in HD, and colour reproduction and detail was excellent. The microphone does a good job of picking up voices while keeping background noise to a minimum.

Our Verdict The NEX-5 is a winner from Sony. It’s the perfect balance between a complicated DSLR and a limited point and shoot, and results can be really professional – if you know how to extract the full potential out of a camera. It’s incredibly easy to carry around, even smaller in size than the Olympus E-PL1, a Micro Four Thirds camera.

We do hope that Sony comes out with a few more E-mount lenses, and considers revising the price tag – it’s even more expensive than the semi-professional Nikon D5000.

Love: Easy to carry around, great results Hate: Very few lenses, menu difficult to navigate Rs 34,990

AUTO focus

Driving Audi’s palace on wheels S. Muralidhar oncealed and tucked away in the corners on top of the dashboard in the new Audi A8L are a pair of elegant Bang & Olufsen tweeters that pop out when the music system is turned on.

Also featured in the previous generation A8, these newer, more compact versions of the acoustic lenses are not just visual highlights or eye candy, they are extremely efficient, high-end audio equipment too - traits that are very much like the Audi flagship, the cockpit of which the tweeters adorn.

The speaker grilles are made out of polished aluminium and the A8L has a lot of that material all around – 240 kgs just in the Audi Space Frame body. And to stretch the comparison a bit, just like the new A8L’s boost in performance, the new B&O sound system with its two amplifiers produces a whopping 1,400 watts of total power directed through 19 channels to 19 speakers inside the passenger cabin. That is more than the total power of many high-end home theatre systems!

C

the new car has its sights set firmly on the BMW 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S class. And that is the reason why the long wheelbase version of the A8 or the A8L is the one that has been chosen for the Indian market. It is, of course, assumed that Indian buyers like the Chinese will appreciate the luxurious amount of legroom that has been liberated thanks to the 13-centimetre increase in the wheelbase. The new Audi A8L has a lot more character than the previous generation. Though it was distinctive, the previous A8 was a lot simpler in design and lacking in charisma compared to the new generation. With its new, more generous dimensions – boasting of 5,267mm in overall length, 2,992 mm wheelbase and 1,949mm in overall width, the new A8L is also a significantly larger flagship for Audi.

Refreshed and reloaded The new A8L has been chosen for a purpose. Coming to India within months of its introduction worldwide, the new A8 is based on the Volkswagen MLB platform, the same platform that is also likely to be used for the A6 and the new Bentley Continental.

Audi India is pinning its hopes on the new A8 to take on the competition in the super luxury saloon segment and

In terms of exterior design, there a lot of subtle interplay between surfaces in the new A8L. There are a lot of the classic Audi design elements at play too like the singleframe radiator grille, the tornado line that runs along the side of the car just below the window sill, and the unmistakable Audi design signature is the LED headlights.

Talking about which, the optional LED headlamp package, integrates 76 light-emitting diodes are designed for the life of the vehicle! The standard tail-lights too house 72 LEDs and are some of the lowest power consuming lights in the class. The other high-end system in the A8L is the night-vision assistant, which integrates a thermal imaging camera in the single-frame grille and is a far infrared system. The camera, which is automatically cleaned when dirty and heated when cold, reacts to the heat radiated by objects on the road and an on-board computer converts the information from the camera into black and white images to be displayed on the driver information system screen.

The new A8L’s design is as understated and stately as it needs to be to attract the buyer in the Rs 70 lakh plus segment. In keeping with the Indian buyer’s liking for chrome trim the new A8 also has a lot of that integrated into the exteriors and interiors.

Vrooming around We test drove the new A8L petrol in the land of palaces – Jaipur – an oft-repeated, yet inspiring locale for driving new cars. Get up close with the new A8L and there is an air

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Photos: S. Muralidhar

of familiarity about its design inside and out, but there is also a lot of newness that you’ll be gleefully pointing out.

There is a bit of gadgetry missing in the India-spec A8L because of legislation (such as adaptive cruise control), but there is still a lot to look forward to.

Inside the new A8L, you immediately feel the sense of space. It is wider and has more legroom that the predecessor. Audi engineers have also managed to give the interior of the new A8L more class and luxury feel than the predecessor. With the right choice of colour and finish, and the extensive use of high quality leather and real wood veneer, the passenger cabin of the A8L exudes luxury.

And to make sure that the A8L’s customer feels that he or she is getting close to the kind of bespoke luxury that other Volkswagen group brand – Bentley – is more known for, Audi engineers have also put together a number of finely machined or hand crafted components. The red back-lit aluminium start-stop button for example, or the chrome air nozzles, the fine wood inlays (you get seven types of wood to choose from) and the hand-stitched leather cover on the steering wheel rim.

The centre of attraction in the cockpit area of the new A8L is the newly developed MMI operating and multimedia system. A kind of third generation of the original interface that Audi pioneered and many others imitated, the new MMI is positioned below the keypad for the climate control system.

Positioned perfectly to be within reach when the driver’s hand is resting on the elegantly crafted gear selector of the 8-speed triptronic, the new MMI system forms a three-zone haptic layout. Audio controls are in the zone on the left, the centre zone is the simple large rotary push button and the combination of the hard and soft keys for

navigating the main menus. On the right, is the pad that either displays six radio station buttons for immediate access. This pad also doubles up as a touchpad, with handwriting recognition for enabling the driver to scrawl single letter pre-programmed commands.

Let it rip Stepping on the gas one immediately gets a feel of the considerable power available on tap in the new A8L. The 4.2-litre (4,163cc) FSI engine develops a peak power of 372 bhp. The V8 engine is highly refined and efficient, powering the large sedan from 0 to 100 kmph in 5.8 seconds.

Thanks to a number of weight reduction measures, including the aluminium Audi Space Frame, the new A8L engine’s power-to-weight ratio is also better than the predecessor’s.

The new A8 also gets a new electronically controlled drivetrain. The 8-speed triptronic automatic transmission has been teamed with Audi’s proprietary Quattro permanent all-wheel drive. It features eight tightly spaced gears, though the overall gear ratio is a high 7.0:1 between the shortest and the longest gears, helping reduce fuel consumption by about six per cent. There is also the drive mode, sports mode or the manual mode to choose from, including steering column-mounted paddle shifters for manually engaging the gears.

During the test drive along the city roads, state highways and private roads in and around Jaipur the new A8L petrol comes through as providing the right amount of sportiness and comfort. But there are changes to the suspension and driving mode that need to be made to get the optimum performance from this large sedan. For example, we thought that the ‘auto’ mode would be the most pre-

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ferred by the potential owners of the A8L since the adaptive air suspension in the car seemed to offer the supplest and most comfortable ride quality. The dynamic mode, which is meant for drivers who seek a sportier ride quality was the harshest in bad quality tarmac.

Despite considerable efforts at vibration and noise reduction there was a bit of wind noise in the cabin at speeds of over 120 kmph. But that was also evident because the cabin was purposefully kept quiet to observe noise levels.

With the audio system playing the B&O speakers will effectively cancel any intruding exterior noise.

Actually, the Audi Drive Select system integrates the adaptive air suspension, the eight-speed triptronic, the servotronic power steering, the Audi pre sense basic safety system and the engine control unit. The system modifies the characteristics of the shock absorbers, the air springs and the accelerator and adapts the shift points, power steering boost etc, to ensure that the best performance is obtained. The driver can also choose to reset the characteristics of each of these drive modes by manually selecting and can also compose an individual mode.

The new Audi A8L is going on sale early next month and will first be offered with the 4.2-litre FSI petrol engine.

The 3-litre TDI diesel engine will follow soon about a month later. The torquey diesel V6 engine weighing just 194 kgs will be capable of producing 184 kW or 250 bhp of power and a total of 550 Nm of peak torque.

Audi is claiming that the new A8L will have the most comfortable and luxurious rear seat package. There is a lot more about the car waiting to be discovered. Expect pricing to be above Rs 70 lakh. If you are a young tycoon looking for an upgrade to the super luxury sedan class the new A8L is surely worth considering.

Clockwise from top: Luxurious interiors with the MMI i n the middle.

Rear seat entertainment package and optional add-ons.

B&O tweeters pop-out when the audio system is activated.

MMI system in close-up with the touchpad at the right.

4.2 litre FSI Engine is quiet but under hard acceleration growls delightfully.

Tail lamp design with 72 LEDs. Door mirror with integrated LED turn indicators.

Below: The intricately machined Start / Stop button.

AUTO news

Pioneering an audio experience P

ioneer India Electronics unveiled its 2011 series of car audio systems last week. The new systems are aimed at enhancing the overall experience of music while on the move.

The range offers Advanced Sound Retriever, high quality built-in MOSFET 50W x 4 amplifiers, USB, Aux input and multi-format compatibility such as MP3 and WMA. The antidust design brings that added protection required for a system so hi-tech.

This is also the first time that a car audio system can store five mobile pairings, allowing the system to memorise up to five mobile numbers and comes alive with the traveller’s Bluetooth activation. Up to 5,000 telephone numbers can be stored in the phone book memory for the ease of passengers. The Auto EQ (equaliser) calibrates all sound frequencies and time alignment for customised audio to match individual car interior.

The DEH range has on offer 8 in-car CD receivers providing 2,16,000 multi-colour illuminations to match different moods of the driver and the interiors of the car. The AVH series has three models to choose from – all compliant with multimedia inputs. The unique touch screen option provides ease of usage and sets the tone for matching music with the ambience. When it comes to speakers, the Champion Series offers bass-rich sound output while the A series units comes equipped with a whole new line up of high powered component speakers and exclusive designs made specially to meet the Indian customers’ preferences.

A concept to improve fuel efficiency A collaboration between research teams at Shell and Gordon Murray Design (GMD) has led to the development of an innovative concept engine lubricant capable of achieving a 6.5 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency. This is a step change compared to the improvements of around 2.5 per cent achieved in typical fuel economy lubricant development programmes. Using GMD’s new T.25 city car - a breakthrough in city vehicle design - as the test bedShell engineers have worked beyond current industry specifications to formulate an ultra-low viscosity 0W-10 motor oil.

Using the 0W-10 Shell concept motor oil, the T.25 achieved 96 mpg in the RAC Future Car Challenge, winning the award of the most economic small, passenger internal-combustion engine vehicle. Although in the concept stage, this represents a significant advancement in lubricant technology and would be put to use in products being developed for the future.

Now a sunroof for Civic onda Siel Cars India launched the new Honda Civic with a sunroof, giving the car an

Himpressive panoramic feeling making it look brighter and larger. The sunroof was found to be the most desirable feature in the Civic, based on customer feedback. The Civic will also sport a new colour ‘Urban Titanium’ which will be added to the existing colour range. Apart from the sunroof, the Civic comes fully loaded with various active and passive safety features including ABS (Anti – Lock braking system) with EBD (Electronic Brake – Force Distribution System) and Brake Assist, Dual SRS airbags and pre-tensioner seat belts. The Civic sunroof range will be available at the following prices (ex-showroom Delhi): 1.8V MT – Rs 13.53 lakh and 1.8V AT – Rs 14.27 lakh.

Smartbuy

11

January 26, 2011

Corporate

20s The City Boy With an Ivy League degree under a genuine leather belt Hugo Boss black suit A two-button wool suit, properly lined and double vented, this comes in plain black with a straight-laced classic fit and flatfaced trousers. There’s no finer uniform in which to start your professional ascent. The price is well worth it.

Rs 29,000

HTC Wildfire Red For Android thrills, apps by the score, a sterling camera and easy email sync on a tight budget, there’s little that can top HTC’s Wildfire.

Rs 16,590

Storm Black Aquanaut A dress watch that also functions as a proper diver’s watch, it’s safe to 1,000m thanks to its sapphire casing. Finished in silver, the Aquanaut features a date counter

as well as an accurate chronograph.

Perfect for the up-and-coming.

Rs 16,500*

Techair 11.6-inch Nubuck Slipcase Techair’s cases use pockets of air running along each side to cushion blows and make them impressively drop-proof. Its PVC Nubuck folds will lovingly caress your netbook.

Rs 1,500

MSI Wind U160 If you’re the office’s go-to boy, stamina is essential. The ergonomic 10-inch Wind is under 1 kg, yet has a battery life of up to 15 hours when you switch it to Turbo Mode. A 1.66GHz Atom processor, 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD make it equal to most office tasks.

Rs 21,800

Match wage to age with

30s Man About Town Well done! You have climbed the ladder to the next level. Dispose of your loot like this…

Paul Smith London, The Westbourne A single-breasted, midfitting woollen suit with five tonally matched kissing buttons per sleeve and innards lined with a rich maroon. A modern cut done right, with just the right amount of cheeky-chappy charm.

Rs 52,000

Oris Williams F1 Steel Automatic on bracelet A Swiss-made, selfwinding movement sits at the heart of Oris’ finest, nestled within a huge 15mm thick silver and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal chassis. A tachymeter scale and day date add sensible functionality to an otherwise stunning piece.

Rs 60,000

be.ez Le Rush No-nonsense laptop protection, plus space for your unending receipts. The

Le Rush will fit a 13 or 15-inch laptop, is filled with high-density protective padding and can be worn over the shoulder or carried briefcase-style.

Rs 3,500

Sony Vaio F Series A Core i7 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and 640GB of storage and a premium 16.4-inch, 1600x900 display will make day-to-day tasks disappear. The Apple-like chiclet keyboard is quiet and comfortable to bash out emails on.

Rs 54,000 onwards

Apple iPhone 4 Android just doesn’t have the polish that shines from Apple’s latest iPhone and iOS. Email sync, an HD video camera, the App Store and stunning design come together in the most desirable phone currently available.

TBC

This material is translated or reproduced from T3 magazine and is the copyright of or licensed to Future Publishing Limited, a Future plc group company, UK 2010. Used under license. All rights reserved

Fashion

50s Silver Fox Retirement beckons. Spend some of that hard earned cash on updating your style quotient

this essential work kit

40s The Boss With half your working life behind you, it’s time to spoil yourself Chalk stripe three-piece Inspired by such notable 1930s Dunhill customers as the Duke of Windsor, this English milled-wool suit with red stripe detail – a cloth exclusive to Dunhill – is designed to look thick despite being supremely lightweight.

Rs 86,000

BlackBerry Torch 9800 Priorities change as you climb the ladder. Where mobile apps and games may at one point have been king, you now need a dependable handset capable of sending outhundreds of emails a day. The no nonsense Torch, with its full QWERTY keyboard, fits the bill.

Rs 34,990

Exspect EX144 iPad Executive wallet hewn from Nappa leather, this simple flip wallet keeps the iPad free of scratches without adding very much at all to its wafer-thin profile. It’s a two-

part design: the book-style cover is soft but the base is rock solid.

Rs 2,500

Apple iPad 3G + Wi-Fi The BlackBerry’s taking care of the practical side of office communications, so let your computer make a statement. The iPad is the device du jour and, with the Apple iWork package tackling your duties with gusto, it’s also a superb presentation tool.

TBC

Rolex Submariner Steel Oyster Perpetual You’re at your earning peak so treat yourself to a classic. The 2010 Oyster Perpetual has a strong new bezel design which is available in a range of colours. As well as being a great timepiece it’s also a real investment; the resale price has already gone up since its launch.

110th Anniversary Navy Pinstripe suit A contemporary fit for a classic, businesslike style, the 110th anniversary of the famous high-street tailors has been marked with a new selection as well as the option to have your suit made to measure.

Rs 36,000

Dell Streak This mobile-cum-tablet’s enormous five-inch screen makes it ideal for your reading-glasses years. The recent update to Android 2.1 makes it a dream work phone, good for everything from satnav with Google Maps navigation to taking pictures with the remarkably good, five-megapixel camera.

Rs 34,990

Bell & Ross Vintage BR 126 Forget tacky gold watches and opt for a timeless Bell & Ross date dial chro-

nograph for your retirement. The 126 is coated in carbon fibre making it as hard-wearing and long-lived as you are.

Rs 1,55,000

USC MacBook Ultra Slim Case Being specialists in all things Mac, Urbano’s cushioned protective case knows exactly how to look after your most prized possession. It’s available in four colours and finished with a magnetic clasp.

Rs 5,500

MacBook Pro 15-inch Most would agree that there’s simply no finer laptop for constant, long-term use than the powerful and sleek anodised aluminium Pro. The HD display, Intel Core i5 processor and seamless Mac OS X put the office juniors to shame.

Rs 1,07,000

Rs 3,85,000

*Approx retail price for all products

MELANGE luxury redefined

Winter comfort Crocs Footwear’s winter collection has over ten new styles to choose from including Lenora shoe for women with squared toe and faux bow design, Keeley for girls with ‘allover’ hole pattern and Crocband Sneaker for a sporty day. Available at exclusive Crocs stores.

Rs 1,095 (Keeley in pic)

Loafing with Egle These cool blue comfy loafers from Egle boast of curved angles and smaller rubber soles, making them stylish footwear for any occasion. They are also available in colours like spicy reds, deep browns and greys at select footwear outlets across India.

Rs 3,990 onwards

Prancing eyewear Oxford calling!

We mean the shoe, as Viavero has a chic range of Nappa leather Oxfords that are designed and manufactured in Italy and are not just flexible but said to have ‘high performance characteristics’ too. Head to its stores for more.

Rs 7,850

Well, not literally! Ferrari’s new range of optical eyewear for Indians is smart and casual in its red and black combos as well as the Prancing Horse logo at the temples. Head to select lifestyle stores.

Rs 9,000 to Rs 17,000

Wedding bells Adding a special touch to wedding gifts this season, Lladro has some interesting pieces to choose from. This Lithophane votive light – Lord Ganesha set is eye-catching with a red velvet tray packaging and is available at Lladro boutqies.

Rs 8,000 (with tray packaging)

Smartbuy

14

January 26, 2011

Perfect frame

PREMIUM interiors

Taking your sleeping experience to a whole new level, Hastens’ new Marquis frame bed contains the brand’s unique double patented spring systems that give it amazing flexibility and comfort. Head to its store in Mumbai and sink in.

Rs 3 lakh onwards (entire range)

Exclusif carpets The Pierre Cardin range of carpets from Obsessions Exclsuif is an elegant way to spruce up your living space. Some interesting lines include Signature, made from leather with embellishments, Elysee made of wool and Diamond made of acrylic and wool. Head to its store in New Delhi for more.

Rs 11,000 onwards

Heavy duty stuff!

Luxury furniture This striking prune chair from Fendi Casa, is just some of the luxurious furniture it has on display.

From The Polo Club sofa to Canova bed and dining table, exquisite fabrics and lamps and chandeliers, the collection is available at International Furniture Brands showroom, New Delhi.

Price on request

Designer décor Distinctive yet functional, Maitland-Smith’s home accessories are a creative addition to your interiors. Some neat picks include the frog prince brass stool, elephant head floor lamp and cowboy boot umbrella stand. Available at International Furniture Brands showroom, New Delhi.

Rs 15,000 onwards

Equipped with Pergo’s patent technology Titan X, technologies like SoundBloc, perfect fold and others, the latest Living Expression collection of laminate floors is more durable and more wear resistant, making it ideal for moderate public and high domestic wear areas. Available in four international variants of plank sizes.

Price on request