The BlackBerry Q5

The BlackBerry Q5

The Blackberry Q5 is the latest addition to the Blackberry OS 10 family, and after using it for the brief time that I did, I'm pretty impressed. 

First things first, there's no distinction between curve and bold, which I absolutely love. A brief name like its cousins the Z10 and the Q10, it's touch and type system is something I've been a fan of ever since the Bold 9900 first came out. 

It's keyboard, admitted not the jointed classy one you get on the Q10 or on the bold series, is an absolute beauty to use. Blackberry after all has perfected the art of QWERTY keyboards. 

The screen, a pretty darn good one at the price they're selling it, is a 3.1" touch screen with a 329 ppi resolution. It's got all the features you'll need in phone in today's world. NFC, Blutooth 4.0, 1080p video recording 5 -megapixel camera (rear) and 720p video shooting 2-megapixel camera (front), LTE etc.

The only aspect about the phone that I'm a little worried about is the battery. Since it's got a touch screen, the battery consumption is going to be much higher and with Blackberry 10 and only a dual core 1.2Ghz Qualcomm processor, the battery might die out really quickly. It's got a 2180MaH battery which might seem alot on the curve and bold models of the Blackberry but on this model I'm a little sceptical. 

Apart from that, it works smooth and well. The new accessories on the Blackberry 10 line have extended out to this phone too. And with them, it looks really classy. 

The back is a uni-body plastic shell that is non removable. Which means that the battery is non removable as well. So those who are accustomed to carrying around an extra battery back for when the juice runs out, you'll have to invest in a portable USB charger instead. 

Available in a black, red and white, it's sure to lure in all those entry level customers who don't want to shell out a high amount for a Blackberry but still want to enjoy the bets of the neW OS and the touch and type system. 

For all those wondering what the size and dimensions of the phone are, they stand at 120mm x 66m x 10.8mm. 

If you were thinking about whether or not to buy this latest introduction by Blackberry, it's for 1499 Dirhams in the UAE market, and if I were you, I'd check it out at the new blackberry only store now open at The Dubai Mall opposite Plug Ins electronics. 

Until Next Post, 

Parichay.

iOS 7 - Beta 2.

So Apple finally seeded its iOS 7 Beta 2 a couple of days back. This beta included support for the iPad category as well, while Beta 1 was only for the iPhone. I’ve been using it since it was seeded, and I’m loving it but finding some glitches a little irritating. But hey, the glitches are all part of the Beta, aren’t they? If I didn’t want glitches, I should have probably just waited for the Public Release, which should be out soon.

If you use your iPad for important/ day-to-day tasks, I’d strongly advise against updating just yet. I’m not saying the OS is bad, if you’ve got the iPad/iPhone/iPod, you’ll love this brand new Operating System, but its glitches mean some tasks that you perform just might not work the same, and that wouldn’t be a very positive thing.

Here’s a list of glitches that I’ve come across so far on the iPad 2 Wifi+ 3G GSM running iOS 7.0 (11A4400f). I’ll keep editing the post, adding more glitches to the list as I come across them.

• Several Apps no longer open and crash everytime I try to open them. [Google+, Google Translate, GrandCinemas is a very unpredictable app]

• More often than not, the notification center/ control center refuse to appear on using the gesture. 

• Very often the background image just goes from your dedicated picture to a pitch black background, this usually happens when going from the Multitasking window back to the home screen.

• The slick new translucent keyboard you see on a couple of videos etc, they’ve not been incorporated yet. Only Safari, Spotlight search have it. Even Apple’s apps such as iBooks, Pages etc don’t have it yet.
• The clock on the homescreen appears dislocated and takes 2 seconds every now and then to readjust.

• Sometimes notifications don’t show up on the homescreen or on notification center.

• The camera app has no box to “Go To Photos”, though if you click on the right corner its like you touch an invisible key and it takes you to it.

• The videos app, upon clicking edit, has no “X” on the video to delete, but by touching the corner of the video, the delete pop up comes.

[More Glitches Coming Soon with Pictures]

Opinions.

Well these 2 days have been pretty good ones. Went to Wild Wadi yesterday with a group of friends. I think this the one big plan we’ve had in all of the 3 months of holidays (Yes, we’re all lazy as hell, but that’s not the point).

But this post isn’t about how these past 2 days have been. Its about something that happened today on the popular micro-blogging website – Twitter. Someone I know ‘tweeted’ about something that I think was highly inappropriate and just plain wrong. I know, its opinion and what not. But this kind of opinion really should stay off Twitter. Or atleast be worded better, if that wasn’t the intent.

Here’s the tweet, quoted word-for-word, though I’ve left out the person’s name for sake of anonymity:

“Don’t understand why anybody would put it as their status if they got into a college in Dubai. Even high school drop outs get in. #Nooffence”

I found this tweet to be a little over-the-top. I mean fine, if that’s what someone’s thought process is like there is nothing anyone can do about it, but to say that in public on a platform like twitter was just wrong; No matter what the circumstance.

A lot of my friends are going to University in Dubai. And I honestly don’t see anything wrong in that. If they take pride in it, they have all the right to make it their status. They’re not offending anyone. I’d like to think of it more as a way to keep the people in their lives informed, all at once.

And as far as the high school dropouts go, anyone from any part of the world will tell you that the case studies of high school dropouts making it big in life are a great number. So the next time you watch a Walt-Disney movie remember he was a High School Dropout. Or the next time you rap alongside one of Eminem’s songs, remember he was a dropout too. Jay-Z, Al Pacino, John Travolta, Frank Lloyd Right, The Wright Brothers were all High School dropouts too, not even University level.

So to all those going to college, no matter where in the world you’re going. All the very best, and make it big. It doesn’t really matter where you’re undergraduate comes from as much as it matters what you choose to do with your life and how you do it.

Until Next Post,

Parichay.

Thankyou, Dad.

So it’s father’s day today. And I know people all over the world (and hopefully other people whose blogs you go on to read) post photographs & blogs about their fathers and how they love them more than anything in the whole world. How fathers are the strongest people they’ve ever met. And how they want to grow up and honor them and make them proud. I say all this because this is how I feel.

The past year has been a really different one. It’s added so many memories and so many moments. More moments than in any other year. Whether it’s because I’m older now and so that’s got me closer to my dad I don’t know. But I’m just so glad. The past year has been all about senior year, college, and getting through it all. And my dad’s been there with me all through it. He’s been clued-on and he keeps me on my feet. He reminds me when I’ve forgotten and makes sure I’ve done it all and got it all in order. I’m pretty darn sure that had he not been the way that he was, I would be sitting right now wondering where to go to college and what to do with my life.

I know this picture's been used a lot, but I still love it just as much.

But I’m not going to make this post about how much I love my dad. Because that’d take up way too much space and I’m saving that for a later time [Spoiler Alert?].

Today’s post is just a simple Thankyou. Thankyou for keeping up with me, even when I’ve disappointed. Thankyou for keeping me alert and active in everything that I do. Thankyou for all that you’ve done for me. Now and in the past 17 and a half years. Thankyou for keeping strong, and thus keeping all of us strong. Thankyou for the life you’ve given us - Aashray and Myself. From my first toy [Which I don’t remember] to sending me off to College abroad, thankyou for it all.

I know you’re in India right now, but you’ll be back soon. And then we’re in for another 2 months of amazing memories and experiences. We’re off to drop me to college after that, and I’m so sure that even once I’m there nothing is really going to change. I’m sure every time I need to talk to someone or take some advice, be it 2am in the morning or 10pm in the night, you’ll be there for me. Just like you have been there throughout everything else, all through my school years.

You’re like that super-hero everyone wishes they could be. You fix things in moments, without a flinch. It’s like, if you can’t do it then there’s no way anyone else can. You’re the person who’ll have answers to all the questions. No matter what they’re related to. Whenever I’ve got a question about anything and everything, you seem to have the answer. Its like you’ve been expecting me to ask it. I look at you and wonder whether I’ll ever be able to come anywhere close to how absolutely brilliant you are. As a person and as a father. I think that’s the ultimate goal. Thanyou for setting the bar so high.

Love You Dad, and Happy Father’s Day once again!

Until next post,

Parichay

An Experience.

Have you ever met someone you just clicked with instantly? In today’s world, I find that to be one of the most rare experiences one can experience. If experienced in the first 18 years of life, now that’s just something else.

Goa, India’s premier holiday destination – A place where destination weddings are common, and losing track of time while at beaches is even more common. Here such an experience took place, an experience that’ll probably run in your head like a movie, just as it does in mine.

It was a destination wedding, set in Goa. The sea made even a 37-Celsius weather seem pleasant. A wedding so large that no one would know who was from the bride’s side of the guest list and who was from the groom’s side. Here two people met, for the first time. A 3-day meet amidst all of the traditions of a ‘Grand Indian Wedding’. Ceremonies these two had no interest in. Caught in the company of each other for these 3 days, where the time passed by neither of them will ever know. A friendship of sorts was formed. A connection so strong, that it seemed like one of those fairy tale ones. A friendship where introductions held no significance. Where names, and mobile numbers and social networking details were not exchanged. Just random conversations ranging from Life’s problems to school experiences. Conversations that would seem trivial to anyone eavesdropping, but meant so much more to these two individuals.

Since neither one of these individuals were so closely related to the soon-to-be-couple, they decide to spend all their time away from the in-their-eyes monotonous ceremonies of marriage. Instead they choose to spend their time on the beach, in the hotel rooms, just talking. Doing absolutely nothing but talking, because sometimes all one needs is to talk and talk.

The wedding ended, which once again they forget to intend. Stuck in their own world, with no one else but each other – making it seem more like a love story than anything else. Making it sound like something out of a Hindi Movie, yet there they were doing just that.

And then reality kicked back in.

The guests began to leave one by one, and the boy finds that she’s gone. Without any goodbyes or even a minute’s notice, her room is empty and anyone who had any idea of who she was had left with her. Taking every chance of them ever meeting again. All that she left for him was her necklace. A part of her that will remind him for years to come and will keep him wondering and asking himself the very same question – “What If?” What if she stayed a little longer? What if we had exchanged phone numbers? But he had none of that. All he had was a name. Etched on the back of the necklace. A name that would stay in his head for a very very long time.

Sometimes people connect. In ways that no one can ever explain. An experience that no novel, post or article can ever describe. It’s an experience that can only be understood when experienced.

Whether to brand this experience as lucky or unlucky depends on the perspective one takes. And with that, I end another blogpost.

Until Next Post,

Parichay 

P.S. The experience in this post is not mine. It was shared by someone really close, and I just wrote it down in my own words as a blog post. 

The Palace of Illusions - A Novel

I've always been a die-hard fan of Mythology. And it all started with Hindu Mythology. No Summer Vacation trip to India was complete without the buying of a couple of Amar Chitra Kathas. For those of you who aren't familiar with what ACKs are, they're simple stories narrating different event in Hindu Mythology. They're based in a comic-like presentation, which makes it really easy for young kids to understand and grasp the concepts. 

I recently read Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "The Palace of Illusions", and it's not your everyday mythology read. Its something that'll actually blow your mind away if you're into all this. It's basically the essence of the Mahabharata being told from Draupadi's point of view. Draupadi was the wife of the five Pandavas.

It takes us down a road we've never even considered before. Every version of the Mahabharat talks mainly about the men and the exile and the war that ended it all. But this book, it gives Draupadi [Panchaali] a voice. It puts us in her shoes - a woman who changed everything, despite being born in the world of men.

I've been reading Hindu Mythology stories for years. I've read different versions of the Mahabharat too. Shorter versions and an elaborate version, and never is Draupadi given the importance she is due. If looked at closely, she's an independent and headstrong woman, from a very young age and it's probably that attitude that ends up causing the Great War in the first place. 

After the countless English Literature classes with a teacher who's no longer in Modern High, its become a common habit to 'analyze' a story which isn't of contemporary setting. And to ask the one big question, "Is it relevant in today's world?" 

The Mahabharat holds such relevance that when read, one is bound to think, "History does repeat itself." And Draupadi's role in it all, it's just so relevant to things in today's world.

If you haven't read it yet, and are looking for a good read. I recommend The Palace of Illusions!

Until Next Post,

Parichay

Numbers

Age is Just a Number.

There are probably 50 of these one-liners that tell us not to pay heed to the numbers. Yet, they're the basis of practically everything we do.

Salary. Numbers.
Age. Numbers.
Communication. Numbers.
Intelligence. Numbers.
Weight. Numbers.
Status in Society. Numbers.
(In my case, Priority Air Flier Miles. Numbers)

Our Life is just one big set of numbers. They say that the numbers don't matter. That its just a number. But that number, is the reason you're - Living in a 4 bedroom house. Or driving a luxury car. Or getting free tickets to a concert.

Its the influencing factor in everything we do, or think about doing. Its practically what people see when they look at each other. A set of numbers. Different people see different number categories. But its all essentially numbers.

One number I'm particularly looking towards right now, is the number 10,000. Ten Thousand. Pertaining to what? This blog. Its at approximately 8-and-a-half-thousand hits right now. And before I leave to college and reset that number, I want it to reach 10,000.

It's just a random little thing I'd like to think about as an achievement. So yes, 10,000's the number in my mind right now.
Think about all the numbers in your life. The list is practically never ending.

Until Next Post,
Parichay