Book Review: NEXT!: The Search for My Last First Date

Next! The search for My Last First Date

Oh my, I am not exactly your everyday reader, in fact I rarely read books, but when I read a book I can assure I don't just read any random book. The books that I read are usually best sellers or something funny, and here I have my latest read, something I'm reading after probably a year. And boy it didn't disappoint, it sure was funny.

  The author has written it in a simple way, and each of the sub stories in the book are short and it's really fun to read them all. It shows how different people can be and you have no idea, that you may be one of them. Since I am way younger, I can relate to a lot things said in the book. The realities are all in there, and how hard it is for a man to actually find someone for the rest of his life.

 I don't really wanna spoil it for you, so I'm keeping it short. It's a short book and I'm pretty sure you won't regret getting it.

It's available on Amazon.com

here's the link to it, you can take a peek at if before you get it as well.

Link :  Next! The search for My Last First date

                                     

Also you can get it as an ebook for Kindle if you want it so :

Link :  Kindle edition

You might wanna try the free Kindle unlimited as well, since it's free for a month :

Join Amazon Kindle Unlimited 30-Day Free Trial

Also Kindle is going for 50$ off right now, if you're interested, now's a good time to get one.

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Redmi 2 Prime : User Review

I haven't written anything in a really long time, so please bear with me if I'm rusty. So now I'm gonna be writing on my 2 month old Redmi 2 Prime.

              If you haven't heard of it before, it's from a Chinese company called Xiaomi. Oh wait, Chinese? Are they any good? Aren't Chinese phones supposed to be really bad and unreliable? Let me answer you those questions first before I get to the phone. As a matter of fact, your thoughts and concerns used to hold true till a few years ago, and it still does for a lot of Chinese phones out there, but Xiaomi shouldn't be clustered with that group of phones. They are the #1 phone making company in China and there's a good reason for that too. And in India, they provide phones at budgets that can rival phones that are a class above them. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments.

                     Long gone are the days when buying a brand like Nokia or Sony Ericsson was the safest bet to get a good phone. What used to be Nokia has now pretty translated into Samsung, although the reliability levels of the Nokias of old are not quite matched by anyone, even the newer Nokias ( or Microsoft) fall way short. After the great success of Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung has become a household name. And they provide phones at all price ranges, but the downside is, if you're not buying a flagship, the rest are shit compared to the competition available. As the prices of iPhones, Samsungs, HTCs and LGs soar up higher than ever, there pops up new new companies trying to cash in like the One Plus One and Xiaomi.

              Now on to the Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime. The budget smartphone segment used to be a cluster of overpriced shit phones, that's until the Moto E came. And boy was it a hit, thanks to the hard work done by its big bro Moto G in the next price segment. Truly the best thing that happened to the entry level (sub 10k price range). When the Redmi came in first, it was quite the competition, but then Moto definitely had a better brand name and commanded more trust, so buyers took a certain tilt to that. The second generation of both the phones were also equally placed. But the introduction of the Redmi 2 Prime changed everything. Probably the first phone in the segment to sport a 2gb ram, which along with the 16gb ROM was a minor upgrade on the 1gb ram and 8gb ROM of the regular Redmi 2, but this came at the cost of just a mere increase of 1k. These 2 minor upgrades, instantly propelled the Prime to best in class specs. Alternatives did pop up soon, like the Lenovo A6000 Plus , which is almost identical in specs but with a bigger screen a slightly higher price tag.


    So after 2 months of use, I really found the phone to be an awesome piece of business, coupled with the fact the the Redmi 2 Prime was one of the first phones to adopt the "Make in India", and is locally made in India. If you are not familiar, all Xiaomi phones run on Miui OS, which is a highly customized UI, which gives an iPhone like feel, with all applications on the home screen and no app tray. Many may not like it, but it's one hell of a customisable UI. I myself was a fan of MIUI from the Gingerbread days ( Android 2.3), it used to be the best custom rom available back in the time along with the now all so popular CyanogenMod. Xiaomi was born out of MIUI.

                  So going to the pros and cons:
       It's definitely one of the best phones in its segment.
       It's highly themeable and has a pretty simple UI, though the downside is that it's pretty heavy on the ram.
       If you're are a fan of SD cards and removable batteries, you'll have an extra reason to get this phone.
       It's dual sim, and both slots support 4G ( both micro-sim)
       It's got a screen size of 4.7" which is actually perfect for most people as it's not too big or too small. And  its 720p or HD resolution,
       The speaker is on the back side though, but trust me, its loud.
       The back cover can be swapped, as you've choices and it easily changes the color of the phone, its plastic though and its a pain to open the back.
       The cameras are 8MP and 2MP respectively and both are really good for its purposes.
       The battery is really good too, can last upto 2 days on a single charge if not used heavily.
       A major downside is that, if you're one that bothers too much about seeing the Android version, you'll be disappointed seeing it's still on Kitkat, but that doesn't really matter since its MIUI and it pretty much has most of the Lolipop features added on to it.
     One of the problems I felt on it was, the ram usage and phone slowing down or freezing after a few days, in such cases a reboot will suffice, don't bother installing and extra app to clear up cache, also the "Security" app in phone does a good job of cleaning up the phone. (It's not an antivirus as the name is sort of misleading)
       And I just found one of the best features of the phone yesterday, the Lite mode, it's just perfect if you're buying this phone and gifting it to your parents, it so damn awesome, with huge ass app icons and fonts and brings a whole lot of simplicity to the phone.

    So if you are planning on buying the Redmi 2 Prime, check it out here :
                                   
Right now an exchange offer is going on on Flipkart, exchange your old working devices and get a brand new Redmi for as low as 1,500 INR.

Customize your Holidays

     
    "Customize your holidays" , well that what I felt when I saw the site first. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you might wanna take a look at it here . Even I came across this well structured site recently, to give a proper review on their new "Create your package tool", and boy it didn't disappoint.

                   The site provides a whole lot of holiday packages, well that wouldn't actually attract too many people cause there definitely will be a whole lot of sites and agencies that provide a fixed holiday package. From my last trip one thing I learned is that fixed packages really miss out on certain spots of personal interest, may not be appealing to majority of the tourists and will be neglected from the main package. So I would suggest you do your part of research too on the places you're gonna visit just so that you could avoid "Oh, I was there and never knew that such a place existed". But of course most tourists would be content with the usual travel/holiday packages. Anyways this site, with this customize option lets you actually customize, or rather hand pick yourself what you wanna do, where (all)  you wanna go, where you'd like to stay ( for you wouldn't wanna be complaining if you end up staying in a hotel that ultimately haven't satisfied or met your expectations), the vehicle you'd like to hire , pick up and drop and all those sort of small but really important details. And yes, all that without even having to consult anyone, cause its all well briefed in the site. It's actually plain simple to use and I haven't run into any crashes or errors in between which has occurred a couple of times on other sites.


                          I would recommend you check out the site yourselves, for I wouldn't want you to miss out on this. Personalizing at its best. For you no longer have to bear with the preset accommodation, be on the lookout for cabs once you arrive at the Railway station or Airport and succumb to their demands. You pay extra and customize, you make the best out of it yourself. A perfect tour package that you've made for yourself. It just doesn't get any better than this does it?


                Well that's about it, a short review on the really impressive feature of "Create your package" functionality available on "Must See India". I loved the idea and I hope you do too. The next time you plan a holiday for yourself or your family, why not handpick places of interest and make your very own holiday package.

                         

                  

Smartphone : What smartphone?

                                 Smartphones have been present in the markets for a few decades now, but it's only in the past couple of years that they've really took the steam and surged right upto the extent that people started preferring one over a laptop. Right, if laptops brought portability, smartphones now bring with them extreme portability, ie they can be carried around in your pockets. In fact a smartphone can take care of all the usual things that you do on a laptop, from surfing the net to playing HD games, unless of course you want to specialize in something. Anyways the smartphone market has sure put a dent in the laptop market. So you've a smartphone I presume or you intend to buy one pretty soon. I shall give you a realistic user's long term review on a few of these smartphones


                               The market has gone highly inflated or something, because back in those days only iPhone used to cost around 35k and very few would actually have spent that kind of money on a phone. I still remember the times when buying a phone at 15k was very expensive, then the bar was raised to 25k and as time passed, to 35k. Nowadays the flagship models of almost every major maker has a price tag around 40k. And over time I've realized that spending than kind of money over a phone is not really worth it, cause when you go to sell after 2 or 3 years how much do you think you'll get for it? Technology is advancing at such a fast rate that all these high end phones of the present will be the base minimum after 2 or 3 years.


               Nokia used to be the symbol of trust and reliability back in its days, it's a pity to see a company that was once the market leader go down like this and finally end up being brought by Microsoft. Windows phone was present for a really long time, in fact more than Android or iOS for that matter, but they still fall light years behind those two market leaders. Credit goes to Nokia for sticking with an unknown OS, when they could've very well joined the Android bandwagon and flourished. In fact Nokia put serious effort into Windows phones that you'd rather buy a Lumia than any other Windows phones just cause of the exclusive apps available that're really good. The Nokia Music Store is pretty new yet it has almost any song you would want to have. Nokia phones were always well known for their great cameras ever since N8 came into the fray and it continues to do so in the Lumia series as well. But the thing that really impressed me is the Windows Amber update. I used to hear people complain that Lumia 920 doesn't have an FM radio, it has only a great camera and nothing else. But the update brought by Amber, actually brought in an FM Radio capability, the camera was improved further, technically the ISO levels were raised from 800 to 3200, and that actually puts the Lumia on par with my camera. And the double tap to unlock feature that came with the Amber update also amazed me. Then again the complaints that have been going on around are true too, had to get it replaced once and also the apps available are quite less but that will change soon enough.


               So pitting iOS against Android n WP8, both iOS and WP8 are silky smooth and are really easy to use. Android may be a bit complex for the older generation of people to use, but customization wise Android and iOS are miles ahead of WP8, though you can't do anything much unless you jailbreak an iPhone and Android can be to a great extent even without rooting the phone. So if you're looking for completely personalizing your phone Android is just the right thing for you. Where as if you want an easy to use phone to gift someone then go for an iPhone or a Windows phone.


                  Haters gonna hate, that's the case with iPhone, its true that iPhone 5 never lived upto the expectations and it surely was overpriced too for that matter, but in reality it is an awesome phone in fact the perfect phone if only it were priced appropriately. No matter what I say fanboys will be fanboys and will argue for their phones. I have used all three over the last 2 years, during that time the iPhone 4 and the Lumia 920 had to be replaced once inside its warranty period. The Lumia still has sometime left in its warranty, but then there is my phone, LG Optimus 2x, a phone that I brought at a time when Android was just blooming, and cause S2 and Xperia Arc were out of stock everywhere. We never really trusted Samsung or LG anymore cause of the previous experiences with normal phones and buying an LG now when all the previous purchases were always a Nokia phone was like blind move. But I'll never regret having that phone, even if I may wish at times that if I had brought an S2 I could've used it a bit longer cause of the 1GB ram in it. Anyways after 2 years of using it, all I can say is that it never really ever had any issues, by now its battery may have passed its life span n cause of which it gives a really bad standby as well. And this is also another in favour of the iPhone, Android phones as of now can't really match the standby of an iPhone.



                  My personal view : I don't like Samsung, but I loved S2 , Galaxy Nexus and Note 2. Nevertheless Samsung does make good phones, but their so called budget phones are overpriced and if you're looking for good phones go for the high end ones, because there are way too many others out there like Micromax, Karbon, etc which make phones which have similar features and are available for much lower.


                   

Nokia Lumia 920

Well odd isn't it, that I'm actually writing about a phone now. The thing is that, I just can't stand by a let such a smartphone go unnoticed, well the sparkling colours will definitely catch anyones eyes, that aside, people have all shifted to the overrated Samsung Galaxy series of phones. I have now turned more of a Samsung Galaxy hater, but in truth the Galaxy S2 was the best phone that they ever made, and ever since whatever came was overrated and continued to eat up the market. Anyways I'm going to take a walk-through of my life and show you the various phones I've tried in between and finally came back to Nokia.

          Remember a few years ago? When there weren't any android phones around, everyone had a Nokia phone.Rarely could you see people with LG or Samsung phones, and having had at least one LG and a Samsung, the impressions they had on us weren't complimentary.

        The first iPhone was revolutionary, it changed everything. When it came out it was really the best thing that could've happened to smart phones, but it brought about a strange revolution in phones, now everything looks the same, you never get to see those really weird and stylishly shaped phones anymore, even sliders and clamshells are gone, sadly, I loved sliders.

      And taking a closer look at India alone, what Nokia was back then before the rise of Android, everyone knows. Nokia was the brand everyone could trust blindly when buying a phone, no second thoughts when its a Nokia, they would last, they are durable and had the best customer care.

    The twist in life came with the N8, we ran after it for so long, but the AMOLED display shortage kept it out of reach, weeks and weeks of running behind it, finally let me give into some shopkeepers advice that, Sony Ericsson Satio had a better camera. That was the worst ever mistake for me and dad, my friend did warn me that its resistive touch, and guess what I tried the screen of Nokia N900, it was resistive but I didn't know it had the best ever resistive screen that comes closest to capacitive screen. And I expected the same from the SE phone, but it wasn't so, and having Symbian S60 when competition were sporting Android and Symbian os^3 wasn't much more of an inspiration, but the strong side of it, it was the only other phone which sported a 12mp camera and boy it truly had one of the best cameras I've ever seen on a phone,in fact, its top view is reminiscent of a Sony digicam. Now I truly miss that phone for its sheer awesome camera. This as I told was the turning point of it all, dad saw the Xperia Arc at that time, and he loved the screen. For the next phone we went seeking that, same situation, not available anywhere :( , again forcing into an equally similar mistake, the same shop, they showed the LG Optimus 2X, they told you can have a look at it,take it if you like. I had seen the phone, and knew it was the first phone to sport a dual-core processor on-board, and then I simply asked them if Galaxy S2 was available, unfortunately it was out of stock, and they just had Galaxy S, and Nexus S then. I was so damn excited, cause it was a dual core phone, and it was also cheaper than the Arc, so took it, mistake or not, who knew back then, wondered if we would regret again. And I was almost regretting when other phones started rolling out Jellybean updates and here I still hadn't got ICS,but the use of custom roms kept me happy with my phone, it was just what I wanted. And just when all hope was lost, LG finally released ICS sources out for devs out there to build on it, thank God, a new lease of life for my capable phone which was left to rot even by LG. I love it, and when my friends have had broken screens and hardware failures in Samsung devices, I've never had any problem with my phone even after falling on top of it in an accident. Samsung does release software updates and scores over LG there, and their Ui's were pretty much equally bad back then, but in build quality LG had finally delivered. It ain't a paperweight phone made of plastic,it was made to last.


     If you're buying an Android phone, I would only suggest HTC, it packs both software updates and build quality in one, plus it has the best UI of all android phones, its pretty much the easiest to use aswell. Anyway never count the iPhone out, Apple have put so much in it, that we even wonder, if they had put in sandpackets in previous versions of the phone that, now they are adding in more hardware and yet reducing thickness and weight. Apple may not give you many issues, but it too has flaws, the most important are the hardware buttons. They spoil pretty easily and all you can do is get your phone replaced. If you're gifting a phone to your parents or elders, iPhone is the best smartphone you could give, cause it may be a bit hard at first to use, but its the easiest of all smartphones to use, and dad just loves it so much that he wouldn't even let me have his for a day. He says its so easy to use, its true.

          Here we are, back to Lumia, and why? Dad saw the Lumia 920 and loved it. Spec wise even I thought it would be a good buy and since he wanted a phone with a big screen to watch movies, it would be perfect. The reasons for going back to Nokia? Its pretty simple actually, of all Nokia phones we have ever had, only my 6210 Navigator had issues, that too the display strip and quick draining battery. Uncle gave me an N95 8Gb like way back in 2008 beginning, and guess what its still running well, and for a slider phone, no issues with the strip or the battery, its still got a pretty good standby time. And then dad had a 5800, which is also still here, and everyone knows whats the 5800 known best for, yeah, its speakers and sound quality is unmatched, and that phone too never caused any issues. So when you look at durability, Nokia wins leaving all competition behind. I did love the Lumia 800 on first sight, its design and smooth interface was comparable to the iPhone's. But with Lumia 920, its gone a level up, sporting ultra sensitive touch for the first time on a phone. It really is sensitive, unless your nail tip is pointed :p, like a needle that is. And if you're buying Lumia, do go for the ones with Windows Phone 8, Wp 7.8 is more or less a dead end and you can't move up to 8 anyway. One of my Windows dev buds told me the architectures are completely different and so WP 7.5 apps won't run in Wp 8, well thats a shame.

           Windows 8 may not have been much of a hit, mainly because of its user interface which doesn't actually suit desktop PC's unless you got a touchpad or a touchscreen monitor. But Wp 8 is superb, from my experience I can say that. It's just growing, apps are coming in slowly and it has the potential to outdo the competition too.And sporting a Carl Zeiss lens, you know what that means, I'm sure it will take better pictures than the new smartphones coming out with 12 or 13 Mp ratings. Low light photography is just mind blowing, without flash it even outdoes my Sony Digicam, thanks to optical image stabilisation,which is also pretty exclusive.

               Good apps are on its way, and there are a couple of good ones out there too, plus the Xbox app features a lot of awesome games too. If you had Saavn on your iPhone or Android, you'll know just how good it is right? For atleast one year after purchasing your Lumia, you wouldn't need any app at all, thanks to the awesome Nokia Music app, which has it all, any song you want, the option to listen to radio mixes, to create your own mixes or even download your favourite songs, and its all in one app. Thats like, Saavn, Tunein Radio and an mp3 downloader, all in one. The camera is awesome by itself and with the lenses feature, gives you a lot much more. Instagram is missed thou, Nokia is trying every bit from their part to get the devs to develop one for WP 8 too, not that there ain't apps which let you apply all these effects.

         So do you understand why switch to Lumia? You are all missing out a lot due to the overrated Samsung phones which took over the market overnight when Nokia were stuck with Symbian, remember Symbian was once vouched for by all of you.

    And finally, my deepest respect to Nokia, for choosing it the hard way, by choosing a sinking WP OS into their own Titanic and managing to steady the ship once again. For they could've just chosen Android and beat all competition in a flash, but they didn't. I hope to see Nokia back on top once again, and in Lumia 920 is a bright future ahead for both Nokia and Microsoft.

       Thanks for reading through all this, its all my own views and your views may differ, I didn't mean to hurt anyone,especially the Galaxy users. If you are happy with it, why give a damn, but please do check out a Lumia phone, cause Nokia still has it in them to make the best phones around. I believe in Nokia.