Fitbit Alta HR Review: Put Your Heart Into Fitness

The Fitbit Alta HR is the second version of this particular tracker that Fitbit has brought to the market. Positioned as the more fashionable activity tracker in the range, the Fitbit Alta HR manages to find that perfect balance between style and functionality with added features like touch sensitive display, silent alarms, automatic sleep and exercise tracking to get you up and about.

This version has some definite improvements over its predecessor. Unlike the previous one, this has a buckle on the strap which made me feel more secure and relieved while wearing it. The screen is also more responsive. Let's take a look at some of the new features that it brings to the table.

Heart Rate Monitor

We have to give a shout out to the newest and biggest feature of the Fitbit Alta HR, the heart rate monitor. Powered by PurePulse, it lets you check your current heart rate at any time on the display or inside the app. You can see a daily graph of your HR variations, the evolution of your resting heart rate, and the number of minutes you spent each day in Fat Burn, Cardio and Peak heart rate zones.

Sleep Tracker

The Fitbit Alta HR also tracks your sleep using Fitbit’s Sleep Stages technology, which is designed to be more accurate and uses your heart rate to help keep a tab on your movement between light, deep and REM sleep. You’ll need the app to track all this info, of course.

It works on both iOS and Android, connecting through Bluetooth and syncing in the background at regular intervals. The app on your smartphone lets you see how many steps you’ve taken, your active minutes (10 minutes or more of moderate activity), your calorie burn, plus time you spent in each sleep stage and how much time you were awake during the night, all this in a nice colour coded chart. However, it's worth noting that it doesn't work for short 1-2 hour naps; they default to the old stats.

7-Day battery life

If you ask me, this is by far one of the best features of the Alta HR. Most recent Fitbit trackers hover between 3 and 5 days of battery life, which is very annoying. I've often found myself with a near-empty Charge 2 or Flex 2 and no access to a charger for several hours by which point the battery would just die.

That's not the case with the Alta HR. Even after I get the low battery notification, I can squeeze out several hours, maybe even a day of battery life — more than enough to get me to where the charger is. And if I'm about to leave for the weekend with 50% of battery, I don't have to rush to charge it fearing it would give up before I come back. It can easily last a few days without a top-up.

This means that I no longer feel the need to babysit my tracker and set reminders every 3-4 days to recharge it.

Durability

I’ve only been wearing my Fitbit for a month so far. There are a couple of small scratches on the face if I look carefully, but you can buy screen protectors. Otherwise, the casing and the strap are still as good as new. To clean it, you just wipe it with a damp cloth. You also have the option to purchase and customize the band according to your liking.

Alerts

Silent alerts is a new way this device communicates with you. You have the option to make it buzz to let you know you have a phone call (the screen will show the name or number of the caller) or a SMS or calendar appointment. It will also buzz to remind you to get up and move if you’ve been sitting still for too long, and will give an extra long buzz (with fireworks on the screen) when you reach your daily fitness goal. All the buzzing sometimes makes me look sharply to my wrist in irritation. But, it’s also tremendously useful, so I don’t plan to turn it off.

Overall, I think it’s a fashionable yet highly effective device, but priced slightly on the higher side. Having said that, it's certainly worth buying for its features and battery life. You can get it on Amazon for Rs.14,999.

-By Nishant M

Blaupunkt India launches the new ‘Symphony Series’

When it comes to in-car infotainment and audio, very few companies can compare with world renowned Blaupunkt. They’re latest offering comes in the form of the new Symphony Series, launched today, that includes six 2-DIN Touch Screen Radios.

The ‘destination’ themed products – Saint Louis 350, Daytona Beach 450, Las Palmas 550, Palm Beach 550, Hong Kong 650 and Costa Mesa 900 – are going to be available at all Blaupunkt dealers. Sticking to their core i.e. great audio, the Symphony series combines fresh looks with the company’s German innovation and legacy. With features like PhoneLINK, a new High End Tuner, Push to Talk and an Android Music Player, to name a few, Blaupunkt has delivered yet another laurel in their wreath.

Each of the 2-DIN Touch Screen Radios will also come with an online warranty from the point of purchase. The warranty will provide consumers with a direct mode of communication with Blaupunkt and also keep them apprised of offers, updates and product information.

Pankaj Jagwani, Managing Director, Blaupunkt India said, “We are very excited to launch this new Symphony Series. It is a unique integration of our innovative technology and the look and feel of our German legacy. With the launch of this series we are also starting online warranty which going forward will slowly be incorporated in all existing products. The latest series is just a step towards providing world class products to our consumers.”

PNY Launches CS1311b SSD Speedy Performance on a Budget

PNY Technologies (PNY) considered one of the worldwide leaders in consumer electronics market and flash memory products has announced the launch of the new CS1311b solid state drives. Targeting the sweet spot of price against performance, the CS1311b SSDs are 20 times faster than traditional hard drives, promising an affordable solution to boost your PC performance without breaking the bank.

The 2.5-inch form factor SSDs weighing only 35gms and having dimensions of 100 mm (L) x 70 mm (W) x 7 mm (H), can be installed in not only almost every notebook computer and Ultrabook, but even in regular desktop PCs, thus supporting an easy performance upgrade in a very wide range of computers. The absence of moving parts not only guarantees the safety of your data against mechanical shocks, but it also means cool and quiet operation. The very low power consumption easily translates into better battery life for notebook and Ultrabook computers.

Powered by the new 3D TLC NAND flash memory, the CS1311b SSDs sport the latest SATA III interface for fast data transfer speeds. The SSDs are available in storage capacities of 128GB and 256GB, thus ensuring that you no longer need to be worried about installing only the OS on this SSD to save valuable SSD space. The 128GB model exhibits fast 410MB/s and 510MB/s write and read speeds respectively, while the 256GB model boasts of incredible 510MB/s and 560MB/s write and read speeds respectively.

The PNY CS1311b SSDs come with full version of the Acronis software to easily and conveniently migrate your existing OS and data to the new SSD without having to reinstall the OS. With a rated MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 2 million hours, all PNY CS1311b SSDs are provided with a 3-year limited warranty.

Intex Aqua Lions 3 Smartphone Launched At Rs 6499

Intex Technologies has introduced a new feature-rich, powerful and stylish 4G-Volte smartphone - Aqua Lions 3. In partnership with SwiftKey by Microsoft, the Android 7 OS powered device comes with a smart keyboard that will make typing 22 Indian languages easy and cool. The big battery Aqua Lions 3 with DragonTrail glass cover is available at an attractive price of Rs 6499. 

The 4G-Volte smartphone comes with a 5-inch HD IPS OnCell display supported with a 2.5D curved glass giving a smoother touch & swipe experience along with a premium and elegant look. The display is well protected with the super tough DragonTrail glass, one of the best for protection and sturdy usage. The device is powered with a 1.25GHz quad-core processor and 2GB RAM, ensuring smooth performance while playing high-end games, watching videos and multitasking. The device is powered with a big 4000mAh Li-Ion battery.

SwiftKey is the best keyboard for easy typing in your mix of languages, with its support for 22 major Indian languages and over 180 international languages. SwiftKey also provides emoji prediction in 13 Indian languages, which makes it easy for users to express. It also lets you customize with 100 free themes and layout that also includes India content. In all these languages SwiftKey uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically learn your writing style and suggest auto-corrections and word predictions that make sense.

SwiftKey has pioneered three adaptive ways to type Indian languages:

- Best for multilingual: Type different languages at the same time (Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, -lish equivalents, and international languages)

- Best for script plus English: Type Indian script languages and English at the same time (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu)

- Best for script: Type Indian scripts with keyboard layouts that adapt as you type (22 languages) 

Apart from the powerful specifications, Lions 3 comes pre-loaded with impressive services for the users. One such service is the QR Code scanner that decodes the QR code automatically and shows the relevant information with buttons for the next steps to be taken and another one is Xender app that helps the subscribers transfer contacts, photos, SMS, files etc from their old phone to Lions 3. Lions 3 also comes with popular music streaming feature and Video streaming feature Gaana along with Prime Video which allows the users to enjoy unlimited access to all their favorite songs and stream and download popular movies and TV Shows.

For photography enthusiasts and selfies lovers, Aqua Lions 3 comes with 8MP (AF) selfie and 8MP (FF) rear camera powered with Front LED & Rear LED flash to click bright pictures even in low light zones. The 4G-VoLTE smart phone has an in-built 16GB ROM with an expandable memory of up to 128GB, that ensures no more space constraints. The device comes with OTG cable support as well.

The elegant Aqua Lions 3 is available in two premium colors – Champagne and Black.

Lenovo Launches Future-ready Laptops With Mindboggling Features

Lenovo has unveiled its latest collection of future-ready laptops. The new range consists of stunning, ultra-sleek devices, offering powerful computing to today’s millennials. The entire portfolio offers some really cool, next-generation features that are unmatched in the industry. Features such as AC 2*2 Wifi connectivity, Type C USB ports and immersive audio are yet to be seen even on premium notebooks that are currently available.

 Rajesh Thadani, Executive Director – Consumer Business and Ecommerce, Lenovo India said, “Our endeavor has always been to offer innovative and breakthrough technology that is differentiated to add value to our consumers. Our latest collection further strengthens our position as the trend setter in the PC space. Today we launch clutter-breaking, future-ready products that boast of category-first features at mainstream pricing.”

Yoga 720 and Yoga 520: With up to 7th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, the Lenovo Yoga 720 packs style, performance and convenience for multi-taskers who seek high productivity and lightning-fast responsiveness. With a sleek finish and aluminum design and weighing only 1.25kgs at 0.75" (19 mm), the Yoga 720 is a perfect companion for a dynamic lifestyle. The Lenovo Yoga 520 is another stylish addition to the Yoga line-up with up to 128G PCIe SSD + 1TB SATA HDD hybrid storage.

Both convertibles come with cutting-edge NVIDIA graphics, FHD screen and a fingerprint reader. 

The devices come with an immersive audio experience with JBL Speakers and Dolby Audio Premium in the Yoga 720 and Harman Speakers in the Yoga 520. The optional Lenovo Active Pen provides a natural, intuitive pen experience with pin-point accuracy, palm-rejection technology and pressure sensitivity. Consumers can now get creative with the Windows Inking feature to either sketch portraits, write notes or share on-the-go.

Ideapad 720s, 520s, 320s: The Ideapad 720S has angled edges to look even thinner than it already is. It is ideal for those who are looking for feather-light portability with heavy-duty performance. With a backlit keyboard, up to 8 hours of video playback battery life, JBL Speakers with Dolby Atmos and with a starting weight of just 1.12kgs, the device offers the best of all worlds – premium performance and best-in-class design.

This range also has the Ideapad 520S and 320S that are designed to keep up with entertainment and productivity needs of millennials and offer a chic versatility to suit their style.

Ideapad 520 and 320: The Ideapad 520 and 320 offer the latest multimedia capabilities to customers with top-of-the-line processing and advanced graphics up to NVIDIA GeForce 940MX. The Ideapad 320 has Dolby Audio-optimized speakers that deliver crystal-clear audio with minimal distortion at any volume. The Ideapad 520 offers a boost from the sound of the Ideapad 320, featuring Harman Speakers with Dolby Audio. The device also features a redesigned chassis with angled edges and metal surfaces that give it a stylish look. Preloaded with Windows 10 Home, both laptops guarantee lightning-fast responsiveness and reliable battery life.

Prices of the laptops:

Yoga 720                       : INR 74,500/-

Yoga 520                       : INR 39,600/-

Ideapad 720S              : INR 74,850/-

Ideapad 520S              : INR 47,450/-

Ideapad 320S              : INR 34,750/-

Ideapad 520                : INR 42,400/-

Ideapad 320                : INR 17,800/-

Norton Wifi Privacy Review

In the good old days, scoundrels (known as rascals in the south of India) would come along and steal our wives. Then they come along and stole our wifi. Now, with all this IT knowledge, they break directly into our wi-fi networks, take our security keys, passwords, netbanking credentials, shaadi.com logins and run away. They steal our Facebook accounts and post cat videos, steal our identities and masquerade as us to empty our bank accounts. Even hack into your web cameras and watch you do whatever you do. Things were much simpler then when they took our wives. There is a saving grace though, a way to prevent these rascals from entering, and it's Norton Wifi Privacy, here to save the day. 

Essentially Norton's Wifi suite is a bunch of tools that creates a virtual private network, a VPN in short, which creates your own bubble of privacy and anonymity. Your very own private, encrypted data tunnel that prevent cybercriminals from jacking into your Wi-Fi network and intercepting the data that is been communicated between your mobile devices, laptops, PC and even your smart TV. That means they can get personal details or worse access to your bank accounts, from where they can deplete your funds without even you knowing it. One can access your phone camera or laptop's webcam to spy on your and what you're doing. Then hold you at ransom. These are called Man in the Middle attacks, a form of digital evesdropping. A VPN not only keeps them out, but also keeps your browing private and secure, which means that if you deal in sensitive data you are safe. 

Norton's Wifi Privacy super easy to set-up with a pretty straightforward user interface. The install file is free of any bloatware most security applications are usually bundled with. There is though, an Ad Blocker that gets thrown in for free. Ad Blockers are like free buffets, they're always welcome and they don't give you excess gas after, unlike free buffets. While the Blocker is simple, it does what it sets out to do.  What I really liked about the entire suite, is that Norton has kept in mind the regular consumer and created a well-designed interface which is quite simple & easy to use. Once you set-up, a Location tab allows you to select your country, and once done auto closes your connection & connects you again to the new server. Again, a great quick auto function, leaving you the trouble of manually disconnecting & connecting again. In case you're lost in the super simple interface, you get 24/7 support. 

Norton Wi-Fi Privacy is available as a 1 device (Rs.2999 MSRP), 5 Device (Rs.3999 MSRP) or 10 device (Rs.4999 MSRP) annual subscription and is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android or iOS devices.  At an asking price of just Rs. 2999, it's hard not to ignore a suite like Norton Wifi Privacy, something you may take for granted may actually end up saving your data and your life, your digital one atleast. This is not fear marketing at work here, you read about Facebook hijacks all the time. Plus you do need a VPN in case you are still one of those folks who dabble in the occasional torrenting or go to suspect sites. Norton's Wifi Privacy will keep those nosy malware bunnies at bay. Norton Wifi Privacy must have addition to make your home secure.