Android Aces
The arrival of Samsung Galaxy S III, projected as a soul mate for fourth-generation Android operating system Ice Cream Sandwich, has set many a tech heart aflutter
Divyanshu Dutta Roy

People need Android ... but people didn't love Android,” Matias Duarte, director of the Android OS user experience said last year, ahead of the launch of the latest edition of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system that aimed to change that predicament.

The trouble was that despite emerging as the numero uno OS for smartphones that also powered tablets, Android was considered too ‘nerdy’ for the mainstream. Complicated was perhaps too harsh a term, but the flexible, versatile, go-anywhere-do-anything OS had a distinctly rough-around-the-edges feel about it.

Pitted against tough competitors like Apple’s iOS, that powered iPhones and iPads with such simplicity that even five-year-olds could take it for a spin, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone that exuded a futuristic elegance straight out a sci-fi flick, Google’s Android, for all its feature-packed awesomeness was just not ‘smooth’ enough.

Samsung Galaxy Note is in a class of its own because of its size and stylus Rs 32,700*

“Ask and you shall receive,” said the mighty Google for the umpteenth time, and lo, the little green robot was no longer the awkward geek of the school but the smart kid who was pretty cool to hang out with. With a Tron-inspired “Holo UI (user interface)”, that added the much-needed “Ooh” to the hitherto-lonely “Aah”, the developers unleashed a complete redesign of the OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, officially labelled Android 4.0 and served it fresh on the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus.

But despite being made in collaboration with Google and fully supporting all the latest Android cheddar, the Galaxy Nexus somehow embodied the “first-shot” factor and even back then reviewers wondered if perhaps the true chi of ICS awaited a worthier bearer — the most likely contender? The successor to the wildly popular Samsung Galaxy S II.

Since that late-last year debut, Ice Cream Sandwich has gone to adorn a number of noteworthy handsets. The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year saw unveiling of a number of phones rocking uber-powerful quad core processors and superbly refined aesthetics but even as the HTC One X and Sony’s pretty line of new Xperias turned a lot heads, the expectant murmurs about the Galaxy S III refused to subside.

Sony Xperia is high on looks Rs 24,500

“It’s really great that Samsung came up with a yellow phone sporting a low def projector that can drain the battery blindingly fast, but where on earth is the Galaxy S3?,” wrote a tech blogger, taking a jibe at the one of few offerings showcased at the cellphone carnival by South Korea’s largest chaebol.

The biting question was answered a few weeks later when Samsung announced that the much-awaited smartphone would finally see the light of day in May and also, for some reason, be the “official phone” of the 2012 London Olympics.

With an axiomatic tagline “Designed for Humans”, the Galaxy S III was unveiled to rave reviews that were near-unanimous in placing the phone ahead of its competitors. And why not? For months, the tech press had gone spastic over what to expect from the S III, that was not just the flagship device of the Samsung brand, but arguably of the Android family itself — and their fantasies had just been realised.

A ginormonus 4.8 inch display, as brilliant as they come, that fits a form factor more comfortable to hold than many smaller phones; a quad core processor that screams performance; a huge 2100 mAh battery. Class-leading camera, signal reception, audio, software — it seemed seasoned gadget reviewers were unable to restrain themselves from heaping praises on the phone.

A powerful quad core processor gives HTC One X an edge Rs 36,000

But the Galaxy S III’s Ferrari-ish specs were not the only things tipping the scales in its favour; it was in the detailing of features such as an eye-tracking function that prevents the screen from dimming whilst reading stuff, a repeat vibration reminder of alerts when the user picks up the phone after a while, the retention and betterment of things Galaxy S fans have loved, an amiable design — the little things, adding to the beastly powers, that made the phone stand apart from its peers.

ICS was largely seen as a descent from the beaten track of Android design, but the devices it ran upon arguably seemed somewhat afraid to venture into the road that had been less travelled by, thus making the experience not as seamless as Apple’s iPhone or Nokia’s Lumia — devices that appeared to marry the software and the hardware in a much truer bond. 

The Samsung Galaxy S III changes all that. Meeting a once-incoherent-now-revamped platform halfway with a device that truly radiates with the platform’s characteristic unrestrained innovation, it achieves something distinctly different from both Apple or Microsoft and friends.

It’s not just how the parts of a phone or the features of a software work, it’s how those factors work together together to exceed their mathematical sum. And that is precisely why the Samsung Galaxy S III and Ice Cream Sandwich, in spite of taking their time, appear to have been made for each other and offer the best of the Android universe — at least for now.

The wine bar code
A wine enthusiast’s love for the bubbly goes beyond the bottle and becomes a passionate style statement. Raise a toast to this guide to wine accessories
Mukesh Khosla

I am never drunk, but occasionally over served!” So goes the cheerfully sloshed refrain of many happy alcoholics. But it’s no longer whiskey, rum or vodka they are being over served with. An increasing number of people are shifting loyalties — from the humdrum of straight shots to the exciting world of wines. In modern times, wine drinking has been elevated to an art form and wine lovers come up with newer ways to relish their Chardonnays, Chiantis Burgundys and Sauvignon Blancs.

Time was when imbibing celebrity wine was a fad of the rich and the trendy. Wines made or endorsed by well-known sports and movie stars were a rage. Famous golfers like Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman had their names attached to wines.

Passionate Following
The lure of celebrity wines may have considerably diminished over the years but the craving for wine has not ebbed. In fact, it has galloped way ahead of estimates. At most swish dos there is an array of wines to tempt you. From the heady red to the tantalising white and from the sparkling to the organic, every wine has its own passionate following. In fact, wine is now the toast of Indian Gennext. Rising disposable incomes and jet-setting lifestyles have put the Indian wine industry on a bullish trajectory. In the last decade, Indian wines have gone from hic to hip, with even the world’s leading producers like France and Italy saying cheers to the Indian bubbly.

Serving Wine
Your knowledge of wine will be tested with the temperature at which you serve it and the choice of glasses you pour it into. Therefore, you must know that when serving white wine you have to choose a narrow glass that will retain its flavour and aroma. White wine is best served between eight and 10 degrees Celsius.

Red wine, on the other hand, is not served at room temperature as heat and cold conditions can vary from region to region. A knowledgeable host will always serve it between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius. It will also be usually served in wide-based broader glasses that will retain its essence and zest.

Sparkling wines like champagne should be offered at temperatures between six and 10 degrees Celsius. They are best served or sipped in tall, slim tulip glasses so that the bubbles are easily visible and can be enjoyed. Wine glasses are just one of the many accessories that are becoming an essential part of enjoying wine in style.

Essential Accessories
The most essential one, of course is the wine bottle opener. This is a corkscrew that is gently plunged in the cork of the bottle and rotated to the end to lever out the cork. But before using the corkscrew, what one would require is the foil cutter. This is an instrument which is an important accessory to neatly remove the plastic or paper foil that covers the top of the bottle.

A number of other accessories for stylish wine service include the wine rack and the wine chiller, where different wine bottles are stored—a rack in case of red wine and a chiller in case of white and sparkling wines that need to be cooled. Another stylish accessory is the drip collar that adds a touch of class and prevents wines (especially the red varieties) from staining when they are poured into the glass. Many connoisseurs also use the aerator to oxygenate wine. The aerator makes the wine ‘breathe’ when it is poured into a glass.

Post-Wine Drinking
There are post-wine drinking accessories which come into play once the wine has been imbibed. These include the bottle stoppers which are becoming more and more creative. Bottle stoppers come in all shapes and sizes and in a variety of materials. These are primarily used to store leftover wine and prevent it from turning into vinegar.

Another accessory is the cork trivet kit whereby wine aficionados collect corks as souvenirs from their favourite wines or even corks of wines from bottles drunk in company of some special people. Then there are bottle tags that help organise your wine collection or even to write messages when presenting a bottle of wine. So, the next time you want to raise a glass you can make the occasion more special by laying out the accessories and letting your guests know that when it comes to serving wine you have both style and class.

Bottle Stopper
Wine bottle stoppers are not just to preserve uncorked wine but are being increasingly treated as works of art. Many of these stylish stoppers offer excellence in design and craftsmanship and are handcrafted in either ceramic or chrome or rosewood. They have ergonomically contoured embellished handles. 

Price: Rs 100 to Rs 1,500

Bottle Tags
The bottle tags provide the best way to organise wines for easy access within the wine rack. Separate and identify wines by colour-coding them in sections like the vintage, ageing and flavour. So the next time you want your Bordeaux or Pinot Noir, you do not have to pull out several bottles form the rack to get to the right one. 

Price: Rs 250 to Rs 2,500

Foil Cutter
This innovative device is used to cut the foil around the bottle top. Though in most bottles it can be pulled off by hand there are some wines that come with a plastic foil. The foil cutter is gently clamped around the neck of the bottle and rotated until foil cap is severed. This saves you the bother of having to messily tear the foil. 

Price: Rs 250 to Rs 1,500

Drip Collar
The drip collar is a unique bar accessory that conveniently slips on to an open bottle neck. The specially designed felt lining on the inside catches the drips while pouring wine. It not only prevents stains on linen and furniture from the trickle that sometimes flows down the side, but it gives the bottle a touch of class. 

Price: Rs 250 to Rs 1,250

Wine Chiller
A wine chiller is more than a cooler or a conventional refrigerator. It helps keep the bottles cool at a steady temperature. Maintaining your wine at the ideal serving temperature greatly enhances flavour. You can also buy coolers for one, two or four bottles. But if you do not have one, you can plunge a bottle of wine in a classy ice bucket. 

Price: Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,10,000

Corkscrew
In the hands of a wine lover, uncorking a bottle of bubbly can turn into an art. The kind of corkscrew one uses shows how stylish a person is. However, there has to be a utility value as well. The corkscrew should automatically eject the cork from the bottle after it is pulled. And the cork should come off the corkscrew smoothly

Price: Rs 500 to Rs 4,250

Cork Trivet Kit
True wine lovers never throw away bottle corks. Instead they put them to ornamental use by creating a trivet kit displaying corks from their favourite wines. They let their creativity run wild figuring out ways of turning corks into framed attractions. Besides being decoration objects, these corks show your love for quality wine.

Price: Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,500

Wine Aerator
Connoisseurs aerate or oxygenate wine. Show your style and knowledge with a glass or steel aerator. The process involves pouring wine out of a bottle into the aerator held over the wine glass. In this way the wine is allowed to breathe and oxygenate which results in better taste, enhanced flavour and smoother finish. 

Price: Rs 500 to Rs 6,000

Wine Glasses
Make wine drinking a multi-sensory pleasure with the right kind of glass to enhance the experience. The glass should be of such a proportion that it facilitates smelling the wine. Most connoisseurs say that the aroma of wine too gives a high. So that is why the size and style of the glass are of paramount importance. 

Price: Rs 250 to Rs 10,000

Wine Rack
Most connoisseurs like to flaunt their wine collection on attractive display racks. And there can be no better way of showcasing the red and white wine bottles than on a multi-level wooden wine stacker. Shop around for a stylish and versatile wine rack which will bring luxury and refinement to your collection 

PACESETTERs Mriganka Dadwal
For 31-year-old, Mumbai-based Mriganka Dadwal, each wedding is special and has its own story, waiting to be told
The Wedding biographer
Aruti Nayar

For 31-year-old, Mumbai-based Mriganka Dadwal, it was the lousy job done by way of a wedding video that made her launch a company. Aptly titled Wedding Stories, her company scripts and recreates the events of the past so as to give the clients the feel of a Bollywood film. The entire crew has experience in television and films. A journalist with the electronic media, instead of making documentaries or advertisments, she decided to capture Indian weddings, which she feels are a kaleidoscope of rituals and emotions. So it was to do her bit to recreate an event that was perhaps more colourful than any Yash Raj film, that Mriganka quit television journalism and anchoring to launch Wedding Stories. When it comes to documenting the most important day of any person's life there is a huge gaping hole. Numerous guests posing with the couple is a small part of the wedding and not the essence of why two people/families chose each other.

She felt no one was exploring the need to portray the capturing of a wedding as one would narrate a tale to be remembered. She believes every story is unique and the depiction should be customised.

Mriganka’s team comprises professionals from the film and fashion industry. Typically on a wedding shoot, there are fashion photographers, cinematographers, costume stylists, make-up artists from teleserials and the film industry and of course coordinating it all is Mriganka as the Creative Director.

When families watch their own movies, the cocktail of joy and disbelief on their face is what Mriganka feels is worth a million dollars for her entire team. “We love the instant hugs part the most,” says the dynamo of creativity who keeps the adrenalin flowing with adventure sports and poetry.

She has diversified into concept shoots or the photo narrative of a person's story with quotes from family and close friends. How the couple met, how he proposed to her etc. Indians love to splurge on weddings. It's not a personal affair a la the western world. Indian weddings are all about rekindling broken ties, meeting long-lost cousins and, of course, displaying social status. A memorable moment? “One of my clients had booked a fort for his wedding. The decor was beautiful, the ambience grand' and all of the guests were decked up for Varmala. A ramp was already created for the bride and the groom. On the spur of the moment, Mriganka set up three cameras and Viola' . . . the night ended up in an impromptu catwalk/fashion show for all the relatives, much to the cheering of the guests. “Today, people come to us asking us to document 25 years of their married life, 50 years of their existence — basically any milestone event. Yes, we are diversifying from anniversaries, to ushering babies, even pet portfolios — wherever there is a celebration, there is a story for us,” says the girl who has shed many tears at each vidai. She says, “There can never be a recession in the wedding industry. Share markets may shoot up or nose-dive but the wedding industry will always boom.”

Bling it on

TAKE HOME A Slice of MARS!
It’s the ultimate dream of a space lover to own a piece of Mars. And it’s worth its weight in gold…and diamonds, sapphires and rubies. Quite literally so. You can now own a piece of Mars from the 15-pound meteorite that crashed into North Africa last year and split into pieces. Ever since NASA confirmed recently that this is authentic Martian debris, collectors have been hankering after it. What makes it so precious is that since no spacecraft has been able to reach Mars, the world only knows about its surface from the rare meteorite showers. If you are a fan of space travel, head to one of the many meteorite dealers in Europe and America and bring home a piece of Mars.

Price: Between $11,000 and $22,500 an ounce (Between Rs 5.5 lakh & Rs 11.25 lakh per ounce)

A ‘COOL’ COOLER
There’s nothing more spirit-lifting for booze lovers than a bottle of chilled beer. But the fizz literally goes out of beer if it is not chilled to the right temperature. Eliminating that possibility is the Krups Beertender Mini Kegerator, exclusively designed for Heineken. The silent cooling system keeps five litres of beer frothy and foamy for 30 days at an ideal serving temperature of three degrees Celsius. So go ahead, call your friends over for an evening of frosty beer right from the cooler.

Price: $150 (Around Rs 7,500)

KITCHEN ON A DINING TABLE!
It's a pot, a pan, a stove, and a dining table. The design laboratory of Swedish giant Electrolux is all set to change the very concept of dining. Its kitchen of the future, called Heart of the Home, is a multi-utility platform functioning as a kitchen table, cooking surface and virtual chef — all in the shape of one flat surface. When uncooked food is placed on the surface, the appliance analyses the ingredients and presents a recipe. The user then simply presses down on the surface and creates a hole which is used as a pan to cook in. Once the dish is cooked it can be served on plates and the pan automatically evens out and becomes a flat surface once again which can be used as a tabletop. 

Price : Not yet announced

A CASE FOR THE iPAD
And we all thought Mont Blanc only makes the best luxury writing instruments in the world. The Swiss company has now diversified in the most amazing ways. Watches, jewellery, eyewear, fragrance and a host of other luxury stuff are a part of its repertoire. Now it has added another feather to its ever expanding cap—a Montblanc Meisterstück Selection Leather iPad Case 2012, compatible with the iPad 2 and iPad 3. The black coloured pouch is made from Italian calf leather-based and is sure to add more class to the already classy iPad.

Price: $490 (Around Rs 24,500)

HAVING A RUM OF A TIME
It’s been spreading good cheer among lovers of Bacchus for generations. From a one-room distillery founded by Don Facundo Bacardi Masso in Cuba in 1862 to what is now the world’s largest spirits company, Bacardi sure has come a long, long way. This is a special year for the rum as it lights up 150 candles. To celebrate the occasion, Bacardi has launched a very special white rum in a limited edition of 400. Christened Ron Bacardi de Maestros de Ron, Vintage, MMXII, it is a blend of the best rums rested in American oak barrels over the last 20 years and finished in 60-year old Cognac barrels. This rare rums comes in a hand-blown 500-ml crystal decanter housed in a leather case. So, go ahead raise a toast to the iconic rum.

Price: $2,000 per bottle (Around Rs 1 lakh)

WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN DOLLARS!
Show the world your true worth at a swimming pool or a gym by pulling out a towel that has an image of the front side of an American hundred-dollar bill. The Terry Velour cotton towel is fibre reactive and is sure to be an instant eye-catcher, even if it reveals your somewhat flashy love for the greenbacks! 

Price: $17 (Around Rs 850)

LOOK MA NO BLADES
Nobody disputes that this device is a draft of fresh air and nobody was surprised when it recently won Time magazine’s Best Invention award. The Air Multiplier Bladeless Fan is a hollow plastic circular ring mounted on a pedestal that throws a draft of air as if by magic. In reality, it uses technology found in jet engines to generate a cooling air stream. The blower in the base forces the air through a ring of vents which are aerodynamically contrived to multiply the strength of its airstream. The draft generated is more consistent and steady than one from a standard fan. Created by British industrial design genius Sir James Dyson, it is 15 times more efficient that a normal fan and is bound to bring a draft of fresh air to your interiors.

Price $320 (Around Rs 16,000)

SHELL-SHOCKER
There’s something that eggs on French luxury goods designer Louis Vuitton when it comes to creating women’s bags. The latest show-stopper in its Spring/Summer 2012 collection is Coquille D’ Oeuf Minaudiere which—believe it or not—has been created from 12,500 pieces of eggshells hand-glued together. It took the craftsmen over 600 hours to make the unique couture bag. A result of a collaboration between Vuitton and celebrated British designer Marc Jacobs, there are just five pieces of this bag. And it will be egg on the face of fashionistas who cannot get hold of one!

Price: $1,01,000 (Around Rs 50.05 lakh) 

AUDI-CIOUS!
It’s an Audi to beat all Audis. The recently launched 2012 Audi R8 GT Spyder is limited to 333 units and is a lightweight, drop-top supercar. The open two-seater’s 5.2-litre V10 engine helps it reach 0 to 100 kmph in 3.8 seconds. It is capable of a top speed of 315 kmph. The body parts are made in carbon fibre, making it around 85 kilos lighter than its peers. Its race-inspired aerodynamics and styling cues make it a powerhouse on the road. Little wonder then that it delivers performance numbers that makes it a sports car to beat all sports cars!

Price: $2,10,000 (Around Rs 1.05 crore)