Google's Nexus 5

It's been a week now since I got my very own Nexus 5 (32GB Black). We all know how Google won the award for 'The most leaked phone of the year', that was one reason why the demand for the phone skyrocketed. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, saying the phone is fabulous, without actually using it for a while.

I wanted to do justice to this piece of art so I used it for a week to figure the ins & outs. I then decided that the phone really deserves a blog post, seeing how fantastic it actually is. I un-boxed it with a couple of friends who were as excited as I was to see Google's latest gadget in action.

This is my personal experience on the phone and everyone who owns this phone might have a different experience and although I'm not a pro phone reviewer, it felt right explaining to those who might be considering this one as an option. Let's get started with the pros.

1. Battery Life: I know how painful it is to see those 2 sticks of battery left when you're just through half your day. There's good news, the Nexus 5 delivers a reasonably long battery life considering the size of the screen and the power packed Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 running a quad-core at 2.3GHz.
   On heavy usage (Switching between Wi-Fi, 3G making hour long calls on Viber & Hangout, Navigation, half a dozen photos and the occasional You-tube video) can give you up to 12 hours.
   
   

   

   
   

   Which I think is just great for a phone of this spec. On the other hand, regular usage (an hour of driving Navigation, half a dozen photos, chatting through Hangout & Whatsapp) can give you up to 26 hours! I don't have any complaints as far as battery is concerned. 
   Another plus that I can add is that even on low battery (5%) the camera app still opens, allowing you to click photos even if you have less juice left in your battery. (I had to root and flash my old phone with Cyanogenmod for this feature on my old phone)
2. Interface & display: Using pure android KitKat (4.4) couldn't get better. There wasn't a single time the phone hung/lagged. I think buttery smooth would be the perfect words. Any app that I tried so far, loaded without any delay. I use a Nexus 7 (1st gen) for the demanding apps that my old phone couldn't handle and there used to be moments when it took time to load. But absolutely no complaints here. Every app works like a charm, every time, all the time.
   
                                    
   
   The vibrant display of the Nexus 5 makes it easy to use in sunlight and I never had to squint to read what was on the screen. This in addition to that, the resolution (1080x1920) and the pixel density of 445 ppi (iPhone 5s having 326 ppi) places it among the best displays on the planet in terms of consumer cell phones.
   Having integrated SMS into Hangout was a fantastic move by Google, it makes it so much easier to get in touch with friends who use SMS more than online chat apps without having to open a separate messaging app.
   I was a tad bit skeptical about the voice recognition. Having designed one in college, I assumed that no app can be able to adapt so easily without pre-training. But I just spoke to the phone and voila, worked like a charm again. I was and still am super impressed. I'm not used to using voice recognition, but who knows, I might just. 
3. Camera: While going for a phone, I generally don't look at the specs of the camera because if I want to go for a photoshoot, I take a DSLR, so it really didn't bother me too much. Many people however are concerned about this. It was an added bonus feature for me, so I decided to try it out. My word, the camera was impressive. I generally have steady hands while taking a picture, but the OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) eliminates most (not all) of the blur that occurs with the shake of your hand. 
   The Low light performance is another plus. I tried multiple shots in different light conditions and it did impress every time. I am certain there's post processing in the background after the photo is clicked, which makes the snap super clear once it's is clicked. Spherical photos are impressive as well. I don't know how often I will use it but it is good.
   
   
   
   
   I can say that the front facing camera exhibits pristine quality, even when it comes to photos, which isn't the case for general front facing cameras. It easily blows away my Dell XPS's webcam quality & the Nexus 7's front facing camera. More than the 1.2 MP I believe it's the quality of the lens that makes the difference. 
4. Aesthetics & feel: It couldn't feel better. The phone is super light, and comparing the weight with my old S5830 (Galaxy Ace), I can't notice the difference. I can't believe how a phone packed with so many features could be this light. Even while using demanding apps it doesn't heat up significantly and is consistent in it's performance.
   I've used a friend's iPhone 5S and I can confidently say it's not a phone I would like to own. Surprisingly, it heats up quite a bit while using demanding apps and is not my type of phone, never was. Apple fan boys would prefer iPhones I presume, with the aluminium body & it's 'premium feel'. Never mind, that's again down to personal taste.
   
   
   Here's something I hope I never do, drop my phone. But in case you like to know what happens, watch the video. 

                               

Moving on to the cons, I can't pin point any major ones, but for starters the fact that the phone can't be opened will be a problem when it comes to replacing the battery. This comes in handy when you're travelling, or probably eventually when it's life runs out. If the battery had come with a 3000mAh, it would be fantastic, but seeing that KitKat makes the phone super efficient, this can't be counted as a flaw.

So there, I'd suggest if you are considering a high end smart phone over the next few months, this is the perfect one for you. Or it might just make the perfect Christmas present for family or a friend.

My long lost hobby ~ Stamp collection

The other day at work, I came across one of my colleagues at Schneider, who had recently started collecting Indian stamps. I suddenly remembered about the album that I had made out of all the stamps that my dad had collected over the years since he was young and of course, few my bro & I collected too.

So I casually mentioned to him that I shall get it one day.

In a couple of days I decided to take the album to my work place, I didn't realize how heavy it was till I put it in my bag :)

Well, I showed my colleague the album, and man did he loose it after flipping through the first few pages. I didn't leave the album alone lest I find some of the stamps missing later. So I waited, and within minutes the album gained quite a bit of limelight. I was able to explain a few stamps, most of which were imported so looking at it now, with all the appraisal happened to make me realize what a prized possession it actually was.

Knowing the reason for why the stamps were made the way they are helps learn a lot about the history of a place. At the time I had arranged the album I actually didn't realize it's worth. There was one particular stamp of the UK that dated back to 1931.!

=====

=   =

=   =

=====

I had given up the hobby when I was in the 10th standard, the reason being "to concentrate on my studies" since I decided to choose Science & I wanted to be an Engineer. At that time my dad gave me his entire collection and gave me the honor of sorting them out and putting them in an album. I had soaked them, since most were used stamps my bro & I removed them one by one and dried them. My brother helped me a lot too. Many times the names of the country on the stamps used to confuse me as they were written in their own language, but a little research would help me learn about the countries.

My colleague is interested in collecting only Indian stamps, right from the time of Independence. He insisted I should start collecting again. My dad still keeps aside a few stamps for me, whenever we get snail mail. Usually these days, it's all email, so the regular post takes the back seat.

Well, honestly the stamp collection isn't an in-depth collector piece with a lot of research, rather a well indexed collection of stamps from around the world, that's it. Certain stamps are First Day covers, those are the beautiful ones, I particularly like the Jordanian stamps of the 14 stations of the Cross & the stamps of the UK. They're filled with vibrant colors and quite a few of them have interesting portraits, some pictures of lovely birds. As interesting as it may seem, the value of stamps increase with age. Just a glance through the different stamps can take you back in time, if you know the story behind the stamp.
  

An Aquarium Lighting System

A few weeks back the lighting of my aquarium went for a toss. Well, it was a primitive system with the tube light, that included a choke, a starter,a huge holder. I was frustrated having to go to the market almost every month to get a new tube or a starter and the dumb system used to get wet with the bubbles of water that used to burst while popping out of the water. So there, I decided to get rid of the entire system and fit in some of my own ideas, well my dad is an innovator so he gave me a lot of advice, so i decided to get started.

If you want to see what my aquarium looks like, well here it is. This was an old snap and the fishes are different now but the point here is the lighting for the aquarium so this was it before my new lighting was in place.

I took out the cover of the aquarium to which the lighting system was attached to and banged out the entire system, including the wiring. It was a messy job but I hope the final result will be worth it.

Ok now i needed a list of things that i needed to buy, first the top was made of aluminium, and the paint was peeling off, so I decided to give the cover a paint job too. Mercedes red was the colour, of the tank, and obviously needed to paint it the same shade. I found out that yellow zinc-chromate was ideal for aluminium, I found out that it was first used in the 1940s it is anti-corrosive adhesive as well as highly toxic, so no organic matter could grow on it, so perfect.!
Then I need to coat it with the Mercedes red colour oil paint. I started out with scrapping out the old paint on the aluminium top. most of the paint came off but a major part was still sticking on. I googled on how to remove the old paint, but apparently the solution was pretty dangerous so I decided not to go for it. I painted one side of the top with the yellow zinc-chromate primer. I couldn't rush this as it needed to dry. My dad suggested I dilute it with thinner so the coat of primer would be smoother, mine was quite rough. I'll did that for the next coat of paint. There the cover of the tank, freshly painted, I must admit wasn't a very neat job.


I decided to use the new Philips CFL genie bulbs to save energy and radiate more brightness. A soldering iron would be a necessity, of course. I realised that 2 plastic jars of mayo would be ideal for 2 CFL bulbs. A little adhesive would be needed and if i'd stick a simple aluminium foil for the transparent jar, it would reflect the light into the water, thus not wasting any light in scattering. So I went & bought the stuff I needed.

 Meanwhile I made holes in the tops of the mayo jars to fix the bulb holders. I also used aluminium foil for 50% of the top so the light reflects into the water. I figured out a way to mount the jars top the top of the aquarium. I completes the wiring for the lighting. There was a switching system that I decided to retain. I used it for controlling the two CFL bulbs separately, this becomes better for troubleshooting, in case of some fault in the years to come :) The switching system fits snug into a rectangular shaped grove for the aluminium top, came equipped with a temperature monitoring system that doesn't work, I assume the sensor has gone bad. The switching works! now just the fitting together and waterproofing.

I cut a slice out of the previous aluminium plate that was there, in the second image. This would help me to make the wiring and mount the mayo jars to the top. So I fitted the old switching system in the groove that existed earlier,here's the switches, pretty neat.

I completed the wiring and fitted it in the groove and managed to mount the mayo jars under the hood with the help of the 2 plastic strips that fitted in the aluminium wire housing.

Finally mounted it on the cover and placed it on the tank.! It's amazingly bright now and got rid of the choke, starters and the painfully long glass tube light.
:)