My thoughts on the India's rape problem-

Image taken from Slate.com

 On a blog that mostly deals with gadgets, fashion or other frivolity I'm going to try sticking my neck out and write about something that's been playing on my mind over the last few days- my thoughts on the rapes taking place in India.
I sent a message to a friend a few days ago after watching the news of the 5 year old girl brutally raped in Delhi and asked her who in their right mind would want to bring a child into this world when humanity has reached levels of such depravity. Reading the statistics of related cases in India brought a chill to my spine- rate complaints increased 25% between 2006 and 2011 and it's really impossible to know whether even these statistics are accurate as I'm sure most of the cases still go unreported. Having lived in India for only 6 years between the ages of 10 to 16 it is still mind boggling for me to think back to the number of incidents I remember being told of of what I now know to be sexual harassment and assault. It was common for young girls to be propositioned by elderly "uncles" in the elevator, to have a leery watchman or driver in the building,  or in some particularly sad cases, be molested by brothers or fathers of friends, or more often than not, by their own relatives. It was something we spoke of amongst each other when we were younger but it is horrifying for me to think that while we knew something was wrong, at no point did any of us think to approach anyone older to talk about it. While I was very fortunate to not be at the receiving end of anything more grave than what I deem sadly to be "regular" harassment for India standards, it still took me 6 years after that of being away to boarding school and college to realize the change of attitude, to sense something was different. Don't get me wrong- rape and anything associated with it was always a threat even in the US. What was different however was that any form of sexual predatorship was looked upon as the abnormality, not the norm. The men had not been sexually repressed so male-female interactions on a day to day basis were more relaxed and less guarded. Female students (as were male ones in fact) were encouraged to, after dark, use a service on campus where you had someone walk you back to your dorm or mode of transport. And more importantly, the conversation between the students and the faculty was more open and educative- if you're alone in a parking lot make sure you have your key out to use as a weapon if someone attacks you! Only get into marked taxis and ones that you've phoned for! Always call a friend from a cab and give them the license plate of the one you're in!  I was prepared for the world out there and had a safe environment in which to communicate if something was even slightly off.
A few years ago, after returning from University and living in Dubai, I was uncomfortable at the behavior of my Gardner at home and his what I deemed to be leery ways. I conveyed the same to my Mother and requested her to let go of him. Even then I wondered if I was overreacting as he'd merely just stop his work every time I'd walk by and stare at me.. Or would find any excuse to come talk to me or generally give me very uncomfortable vibes. But then I thought to myself, a walk to my car every morning shouldn't make me be wary of my surroundings, or in fact, downright uncomfortable and figured women's intuition is the best radar I've been blessed with so it's better to be safe than sorry. Luckily for me my Mother respected my wishes despite thinking them ridiculous,  had him replaced. Strangely enough a close friend now is being harassed by her gardener who is stalking her and is convinced he loves her and she him and that they are meant to be married. She's had to change her phone number because of him and can't be alone in or around her house at any time and the gardener himself has gone in and out of jail a few times because of this. We joke and tease her about it but really, it is no laughing matter.
My advice to all parents out there- TALK TO YOUR KIDS. If they (your male and female offspring) are in the least bit bothered or uncomfortable by the presence of anyone NO MATTER HOW INCONVENIENT IT IS TO YOU, do something about it! Let them know it's not ok for ANYONE including the staff at home, older kids on the school bus or even friends or relatives to violate their personal space! And most importantly- APPLY THE SAME RULES TO YOURSELF! I've heard of many cases where well educated female friends even till date do not speak out about harassment they face for fear of embarrassment, shame or just not wanting to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

This brings me to the second point of my post. I've been watching the news and salute the women who are leaving their homes, taking to the streets, braving the wrath of cops and protesting about the state of women in India- Delhi in particular. Yet, it would be over simplifying the problem if we merely point to mens' appendages and pronounce them to be weapons of mass destruction and look upon each male as a threat. The problem sadly, also stems from parenting of said Indian male, of whom sadly, the one primarily responsible is the mother- yes, a woman. Even in well educated Indian homes the mother dotes on her son as being her Raja beta who can do no wrong. In more affluent of Indian homes the parents may allow their daughter a bit more freedom and may agree to send her away from home to boarding school or college, but their expectations of what the girl will do with the degree is very skewed. I know Indian women who have gone to schools like Harvard and UPenn but whose parents still look upon their "settling down" (ie: getting married) as the most important "accomplishment" of their daughter. I can narrate stories of female friends' mothers who have encouraged them to dress more provocatively or given them tips on how they should have their one particular (usually wealthy and from the same community) male friend look at them as "more than a friend." In fact, I cannot think of a single female friend who after college did not receive pressure from their parents, usually their mother, to get married. I don't know of too many male friends who faced the same problem.
I remember back to the days in college when my girl friends would complain about not being allowed to go out late at night while their brothers were able to come home whenever they wanted. Mind you, it was not a question of safety- it was just a question of different standards being applied to the raising of the different sexes. Is it surprising that a nation that has a ban on sex determination during pregnancy has a rape problem?? Forget about female infanticide, I do not know of any Indian marriages, including those of close friends, where some sort of "dowry" did not exchange hands. Whether it's a Patek watch for the boy, or Sabyasachi saris for the to-be Mother in Law and other female relatives, a "give and take" is natural, normal and what's "done." I live in Dubai and have heard of many a story of what husbands of society darlings' get up to after hours. The question has always remained- do the wives know? For most, I don't have the answer, but for some I do and I wonder what their motivation to stay in the marriage is. The kids? The money? I know of one recently divorced Indian woman in Dubai who decided to throw a party one evening. Yes, evening and not afternoon, and yes her "friends" and their husbands were invited. I don't know the woman in question personally, but she was the talk of the town (or a at least parts of town, namely Emirates Hills) merely because she dared to invite men. "She got divorced, now she must be after our husbands," was the general thought process going around, and when I commented on how ridiculous that idea was, I got a, "but you don't know what she's like!" Hopefully, if you're reading this and are of rational thought, you will see the problem with this argument.
Maybe because I was raised in an all women household for the most part (I do not have a brother and my Father was traveling the world through most of my childhood) I do not face a lot of gender differentiation staring me in the face daily on the home front. I joined my family business immediately after college and that probably explains why I didn't face any discrimination for being a female at work either. Also being financially independent also puts me in a very fortunate position of not having to rely on a husband to provide for me or "take care" of me in the future. I realize all of this. I also realize that I'm very blessed to be the 3rd child (hence the most liberally raised) to a Mother who stressed on the importance of education and a work ethic over finding a husband, and a Father who was convinced I was meant to be a boy and looked upon me as the son he never had. I grew up a tomboy sharing my Father's watches and oftentimes, much to his joy and amusement, his clothes and was never made to feel I couldn't do anything because I was a girl, unless of course it was my direct safety they were concerned about- like coming home alone late at night. In fact when my Father passed away in 2002 I insisted on performing the final rites (an act reserved for a boy) which I was allowed to also ironically because I wasn't married. Not that I'm saying my upbringing was perfect- I'm merely stating though that because of multiple factors in my life I'm possibly more affected and able to see the absurdity in the way most Indian households handle the dynamics between their men and women. Or maybe I am maybe more affected by it than I realize as my parents had me after a 6 year gap after my second sister (and 8 years after the eldest) as they probably hoped for a son.. in fact they'd picked out a name for him- Kiran. My Father was away in fact at a temple in India while my Mother gave birth to me and when he returned to Bombay he was greeted by his brother who gave him the news of my birth and then said to him, "bad news... it's another girl." Maybe subconsciously I feel so strongly against gender discrimination as although I can't remember facing it outright, my very existence seems to be defined by it.
I don't mean to offend anyone by this article.. quite the opposite. I am not a bra-burning feminist- if you know me, you'll know I'm quite the opposite and am a hopeless romantic if there ever was one! I however do hope you pause for a few moments after reading this, especially if you're a woman, especially if I know you personally, and think about the issue we as a culture are facing. I don't think India merely has a rape problem, but it has a serious gender problem that has permeated our being at all different levels of society, however well educated or however affluent. It is sad to see it happen, but it is sadder yet to see people mindlessly put up posts on Facebook about the shock and horror they feel hearing about the rapes taking place in India. While they may not have a solution, and I'm not even saying there is one!.. I just wish they'd pause for a moment and think that maybe, just maybe, they may be a teeny tiny part of the problem.
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Gift or not to gift? That is the question...

At dinner with 3 close friends the other day, I said to them I knew exactly what I wanted for my birthday. "What?" they asked. "Nothing!" I said. My nothing does not stem from a, "I'm so blessed I need nothing in my life," sort of nothing. One of the worst excuses particularly stingy friends throw at me for historically showing up empty handed is, "I didn't know what to get you.. What do you buy the girl who has everything?" I don't have everything. I really don't. I'm actually quite an easy person to shop for considering I love to shop. I love gadgets- heck, I love gadgets so much I actually spend time writing about them. Forget about the fact that that's my business- that happened by coincidence by my Father before I was born, but the experimenting with new phones and iPods and headsets and all the rest of it? Is all me. Can't think of what gadget to get me considering I probably have everything I'd want being sold in my stores? My friends would know of my sick obsession with make up. Buy me a simple set of eye shadows- anything from Rimmel being sold in the supermarket to Tom Ford will do, and you'll have me giddy like a girl with vertigo on the top of the Burj Khalifa. Absolutely LOVE the stuff. Don't have the budget but want to get me something I'll really treasure? Anyone who has seen my eyes light outside a bookstore (or for that matter has tried borrowing a book from me) will know how much pride I take in my collection and how much they mean to me. I call the Kinokuniya store in Dubai Mall "my happy place" if that tells you anything! Books are always a safe bet!
But back to my conversation with my 3 slightly confused friends at my birthday gift request. "I'll explain," I added, "I not only don't want anything, I want to be exempt from getting you anything too. You and your families," I quickly added. Let me explain. As a single girl about to turn 35, chances are most of my friends are married, which they are or are about to be. Some of my older friends have college going kids too, but it's the ones that  who have, in recent past, and continue to procreate are the ones where my problem lies. Buying my friends birthday gifts I can handle. I have found a simple scarf from Hermes with a gift receipt in case they don't like my taste, garners a positive response from most women. Do I find it painful to have to dash to the mall at the nth hour before going for a friends birthday dinner as I would have inevitably left buying said scarf it to the last minute? Yes, I do. But nothing I can't handle. What I don't want to put up with anymore is buying the husband's birthday gifts, and worse yet, the kids. And for God's sake please let me be in oblivion about when your anniversary is, and do NOT have a dinner or party to celebrate it.
Mind you, I'm not cheap and it's not the monetary aspect I have a problem with. Most of the times I adore my friends husband's and possibly have an independent friendship with them and I'm very fortunate to have friends who are married to great guys. But would I have stressed about buying them something had I really been independently friends with them and they not been the spouse of my girl friend? Probably not. No offense my lovelies if any of you are reading this, but as a single girl I really don't want to have to pick out ties for your hubby... I don't have a brother and never bought ties for my Father and with the exception of my closest male friend who has a standard tie request for his birthday, I don't want to go tie shopping at all. Ever.
Recently, while heading for a friends kids birthday party who decided to celebrate all 3 kids birthday in one shot, I messaged another friend while hurrying out the door what I should bring. "Lego," she responded, adding the ages of the kids and indicating a price range so I wouldn't blatantly embarrass myself showing up with something too cheap, that was possibly for teenage girls (my friend has 3 boys.) To my delight I discovered that my local WH Smith sold Lego and I made a mental note for future birthday parties I may attend. What was I doing at a kids birthday party in the first place, you ask? My friend had given me an optional invite, and my other friends convinced to come late so we could hang out once the party was winding down- and we did and it was fun and I'm glad I went. And really nothing in the world can beat kiddie birthday party food. I don't know why we stopped serving chicken nuggets and mini pizzas at our birthdays... but I digress. Later I thought to myself, I have no kids.. do I really WANT to know where Lego is available? Should I opt out of going to birthday parties so I don't shamefacedly turn up empty handed? My mother would argue I have questionable social etiquette anyway and her constant complaint is that I don't go anywhere ( I opt out of most large social bashes) so should I really be making myself that much of a weirdo in social situations with close friends too?
My friends sat round the table in silence and stared at me like I had 2 heads, partly I think offended that I felt like buying gifts for their dear ones was an obligation in the first place and that I shouldn't have bothered, etc. But it's what's "done" and I did for the most part except for places I did show up empty handed (like I said, questionable social etiquette did pop up every now and then). But for all of ONE time in the year you may feel obligated to go buy me something, please understand there are possibly multiple reasons in the year I may have to go out shopping for you, and REALLY... who likes to go shopping for birthday gifts for others anyway?? Nobody! "So again," I repeated, "don't get me anything and I won't get you.. or your families.. anything either."
Am I ridiculous for not wanting to feel pressured multiple times a year to halfheartedly go pick out things for people's special occasions? Wouldn't my friends just rather I go pick out something nice for them randomly in the middle of the year if I think they'd like it?- and I do! And if I'm invited to a not-so-close friend's home for the first time or an acquaintance's something-or-the-ther, I'll happily grab a bottle of wine or champagne to take along with me so I at least have the basic common courtesies down pat. But is it really that horrible to tell a few close friends I want out of this whole gift exchanging business? The way I see it, it's not something I'm trying to enforce a week after my birthday... I'm starting at a fair platform and requesting to not be bought anything either! Is it really that bizarre?! 
"Say something," I prompted as they ate their food in silence. "Listen," said the one I'm closest to who incidentally will be the one I'm spending my birthday with in Paris. "We think you're being ridiculous and the best you'll get is for us to respect your wishes... so just be happy with that." And you know what? I am.
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Book Review- One Hundred Years of Solitude

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." This is the start of the widely acclaimed book, One Hundred Years of Solitude. It should have perhaps been an indication to me then what the rest of the book would be like, as many many chapters go by before we are again even introduced to Cololenel Auerliano Buenido, or to the specific incident of him discovering ice. But in typical Marquez style, I too shall digress.
If you have been following my book reviews for a while now, maybe you're slightly bored by my rave reviews and "must read" recommendations. But when we're doing classics and highly recommended ones that too, it's sort of hard to come across a book that we really didn't like right? My friend and I had both heard a lot about One Hundred Years.. and another friend had even gifted me my still unread copy of Love in the Time of Cholera (also by Marquez) promising me it would be one of the best I'd ever read and so I figured this be a sure shot must-read.
It started off as you can possibly see above, on an intriguing, if not gripping, note. The story proceeds to take you into the life of the village of Maconda and the lives of the Buenido family. The description is colourful and vivid and with the promise of stories with gypsies and secrets it starts of as a page turner. Then there is the sudden introduction of a ghost (and a lot of major events in the book happen in a sudden manner in the middle of a mundane sentence) and then somebody is born with the tale of a pig, and events and characters become even more fantastical and frankly, ridiculous, that you're unsure of whether you're supposed to read into things, find a metaphorical aspect to them or take them at face value for what they are- bizarre occurrences.  At the start of the book you see a family tree drawn out for you on one page, and unless you glance through the names, you'll be unsure of why one is needed in the first place. All the names of the characters are pretty much the same, and with the amount of Arcadio's and Aureliano's in the book, your head starts to spin and you wonder whether you care what happens to them at all. The book has plenty of sex, incest, hatred, jealousy.. all the makings of a bad movie, up to and including ZERO plot.
I like books that have a story line which is why I prefer fiction to non fiction. I also like books that grip you and make you unable to put it down. And my favourite type of books are the ones that have characters you can relate to and that when over, make you feel like a part of your world has gone with it forever. I realize that a great plot isn't always what makes a book a classic , and in fact most classics are hardly ever page turners. I however found the dark humour too dark and thought characters were born and died before you could even begin to care for them. I though the book tied up nicely at the end but I don't know if I feel that way because I was so happy it was finally over! Seriously with about 50 pages left I messaged my friend and told her it was taking everything I had to even finish it!!
I know a lot of people think that it's an amazing book and its reviews on Amazon are almost overwhelmingly positive, so do go ahead and give it a shot. I knew while reading it my book club companion Piyali would love it, as she overwhelmingly prefers mostly non-fiction and I knew she'd quite enjoy the dark humour in the book. It certainly was not for me but I didn't want to omit doing a review on it because I didn't like it, neither did I not want to be honest about what I thought because its a classic and all that jazz. But yes, One Hundred Years.. Possibly one of the most painful books I've read!
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Book Review- Boomerang

If you've been following my blog for the past 2 months, you'll know that my friend Piyali and I have been doing a sort of "book club" of sorts where the both of us get together and read a book a week. Piyali's husband, Brij Singh, is extremely well known in the finance field in the UAE having been CEO and MD of Julius Baer Middle East, only to leave to leave to be founder and CEO of Baer Capital Partners ltd... and in fact is also the author of the next book on our reading list. On my flight back from my Harvard course last year I'd bumped into Brij as he was returning from the same program (albeit in the week after me) and we had talked pretty much non stop about various subjects, especially my inability to understand anything finance related. We'd discussed a lot of books too when we realized we both loved reading, and he had advised me to read Boomerang by Michael Lewis, which he had said was one of his most favourite books, by one of his most favourite authors. He promised it would, in very simple uncomplicated English with no finance jargon, explain to me the global financial crisis that we were experiencing and the why and how of it all. He'd praised the book so much that I'd gone out and bought it a few days later with full intent of reading it immediately.
As I'd dug into the book my brain had started to spin and my eyes got a bit fuzzy as they're wont to do when faced with numbers or finance related big-wordery. Credit swaps whaaa?? Hmm ok, I thought to myself, clearly Brij must have misunderstood when I said NO CLUE ABOUT FINANCE and I put the book away only to collect dust in a corner of my shelf. Recently one evening I was out to dinner with the couple and we were discussing what books we should do next when advised us to go through Boomerang, again promising a great and very educational read. We agreed but when we finally got to the time we were supposed to start on the book, I took ill and refused to touch it. It was only when Piyali finished the entire book and promised it was very easy to grasp once to get past the first few pages, is when I actually decided to get into it. "Read the first three chapters and if you don't like it you can quit then," she advised. What she never told me was that the book was only 5 chapters, but by the time the first 3 were done I was hooked and that was that.
Yes you could watch CNBC or read some complicated book or the Economist to try to understand about the global crisis, or really you could read Boomerang to not only give you a very accurate and detailed view about what went wrong, but also make you laugh out loud every few pages while doing so. Lewis takes a chapter each to talk about the meltdowns that took place in Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany and then the current state of the US. To give you a summation of what went wrong? "Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish." What on earth does that mean? Read Boomerang and find out.  The book is uncomplicated, very well researched, and gives you a sense of the people and culture in each of these countries, and then a detailed idea as to what went wrong and where it stands now. Being a very famous author I guess also has its perks and Lewis was about to in his travels to these places, meet the people who matter to get a real behind the scenes look into the disaster zones- in fact the part where he interviews Schwarzenegger while biking around LA was in equal parts insightful and hilarious.
Piyali too was also so impressed with not only the material of the book but also his style of writing, that she googled some of his interviews and had posted this on her Facebook wall. This is him speaking at Princeton (his alma mater) in 2012 and I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well spoken he was. Again, his sense of humor shines through brilliantly even here-

Incidentally, when reading other reviews on Amazon I realized that Boomerang is actually a collection of essays Lewis had written for the magazine Vanity Fair. You may be hence actually able to find the chapters on the Vanity Fair website although I haven't tried doing that myself as I already had the book. Could I suggest that you read the first 3 chapters and see whether you like it? I think you'll be surprised at how much you enjoy it. I know I was!
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Book Review- Indian Summer

"In the beginning there were two nations. One was a vast, mighty and magnificent empire, brilliantly organized and culturally unified, which dominated a massive swath of the earth. The other was an undeveloped semi-feudal realm, riven by religious factionalism and barely able to feed its illiterate, diseased and stinking masses. The first nation was India. The second was England."

Hooked yet? Those are the opening lines of the book, Indian Summer, and the lines my friend Piyali (and my book club partner) read out to me to entice me into reading it. If you've read my review of Rebecca you'll have realized my friend clearly pays a lot of attention to opening lines of books and considering both have been remarkable reads, maybe I should in the future as well. But I digress...

Yes, Indian Summer is indeed a remarkable book about the partition of India and the people who made it happen. If it's history you're looking for, you've got it here with a thoroughly researched book that has almost every third line citing it's origin. Indian Summer is so much more than just a historic tale being dispassionately put down on paper. The authour, Alex Von Tunzelman's writing absolutely delights and flows from one page to another. I recently tweeted a line from the book that made me laugh out loud where Tunzelman wrote about an Indian Prince- "It was unfortunate for 'half mad' underestimated his insanity by around 50 percent." Her part about Edwina Mountbatten's death also made me cry. For an authour to so brilliantly inject her voice into a non-fiction piece really shows off her prowess and brilliance as a writer, and she coins her phrases with equal parts ease and intrigue- enough for it to become a page turner.

While those interested in history may be interested in this book, those who are Indian must definitely pick this up- it's a must read! As an Indian I knew of partition from whatever little I'd learned in history lessons at school, knew of Gandhi from what I saw in the movie and knew to dislike Pakistanis when an India-Pakistan cricket match rolled around, despite knowing little about the game. Reading this book, especially reading about Gandhi, was an eye opener especially on some of his views and ideologies. Did you know Gandhi a) didn't think a woman should resist rape, but instead "defeat" their assailant while being passive and silent? b) thought the Jews should have committed some sort of mass suicide rather than be killed at the hands of the Germans? c) had naked girls, many under the age of 18, sleep in bed next to him so as to "test" his vow of celibacy? Yup.. all cited with proof and backed with research that I went off and did a bit of digging into myself. Just as with Maus when I read about the death and destruction caused by Hitler and naively wondered how one man could have changed the world, I was struck again by how the fates of India and Pakistan were governed mostly by 3 men- Nehru, Mountbatten and Jinnah. Did Mountbatten favour Nehru simply because the two got along better and shared a common interest? And did Jinnah really even WANT a separate Pakistan or did that idea just sprout as a bargaining tool with the British? Tunzelman answers all of these questions, and many more that you never even thought to question in the first place.

And in the midst of the madness comes about a most beautiful love story- that of Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru. I've seen done a bit of digging on that front and the jury is still out on whether their relationship was was a physical one or one that was purely platonic. Tunzelman handles this by leaving it  up to the reader's imagination, never clarifying one way or the other, but citing letters where it is described as an almost spiritual bond. She also cites letters between Edwina and her husband, as well as Lord Mountbatten and Nehru which suggest that he not only knew about a relationship of some sort, but also gave it his blessing.

All in all Indian Summer is an eye opener, highly educational and absolutely fantastic read and one that I can't stop raving about. Highly, highly recommended!!
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BlackBerry 10 launches in Dubai!! Here's my initial hands on review-

Sometime last month I got an invitation to check out a sneak peak of the BlackBerry 10 Operating System. I don't usually go for product launches but I knew this one would be one to not miss, especially if the NDA they made us sign was anything to go by. There was already enough of a preview of the features of the BB10 online so I was wondering what on earth they would show us that required such secrecy- turns out a few of the features weren't yet official, one of the biggies being video chat over BBM.
So the 30th January rolls around and I get another invite for the official launch of the phone, and again I was too curious to see what exactly would happen as I was promised for it to be quite a show. Only on reaching the venue did I realize that the phone was being launched live in NYC with a giant screen that spread the room showing us the goings on- and we were joined with such a launch taking place in a few other cities including New Delhi, Paris, Toronto and Johannesburg. I won't get into too much about the event, although it was very well organized, and instead I'll focus straight on the phone. Every one in attendance got to take home the new BlackBerry Z10 (the flagship device with the onscreen keyboard) so I've had around 24 hours to play with it and put it through its paces.

The BlackBerry 10 launch in Dubai

2 phones announced- the flagship Z10 and the Q10 with physical keyboard (availability date TBA)

Apologies for the blurry image! This is what the Z10 looks like held

So about the device- It looks very similar to the iPhone 5 being just a tad bit longer and wider but feels approximately to be the same weight. I actually like the feel of the Z10 a bit better as it has a rubberized back which gives it a better "grip" while you're holding and typing on the device. The device runs smoothly and feels as fast as an iPhone or top of the line Android device. The keyboard is great and works very well, much better than the stock Android keyboard but perhaps not as good as SwiftKey, my favourite app on my Samsung Note 2 which allows me to customize the keyboard. All in all, I liked it better than an iPhone keyboard too so that's saying a lot. Also, if you are multilingual you will probably love the phones ability to switch between two languages without any particular "switching" to take place. You can now go between English to French with ease!
BlackBerry (the company, formerly known as RIM) has also made sure to go out there and secure some big names for their App store. Right now I was able to download the Facebook and Twitter app which integrates very well into the phone, but others will soon be available including WhatsApp and Skype, although the latter may not be available in Dubai.

Let me highlight a few of the changes that makes the BB10 different from the other iPhone and Android devices out there-
- BBM is now much more useful as it integrates voice calling AND video chat. I've heard that video chat via BBM is available in the UAE for now (although I haven't tested it out as I don't know anyone else who has the new device yet) neither have I been able to try out voice chat as I don't know how to operate it yet. Will post further comments as and when I have more info on that front.
- Since BlackBerry has always been all about security, BBM has another great feature that the working folk may appreciate. Users of the BB10 have a way of sharing their screen with the person they are chatting to via BBM to show them pictures, documents and whatever else they have on their phone without actually sending them the device. That works brilliantly as you can imagine, when sharing information with someone without actually having to share it.
- To do this and not have people be able to glance into your crazy weekend photographs and Angry Bird game downloads, the phone allows you to have 2 modes- a work mode and a play one. I haven't played around with this too much, but I do know from the demos that this is possible.
- Another cool app is something called "Remember" which allows you to create a folder where you can put it all sorts of information that you may need to, well, remember later. The example they gave was quite useful- lets say you planning a holiday. It allows you to store contact details of the person you need to speak to regarding the holiday, any photographs you may have saved, website info, Evernote notes on the subject, all to be jointly kept in one place for future reference. Earth shattering app? No. Bloody useful? For sure.
- Ever tried to use the browser on an old BlackBerry device? You'll know how painfully slow the damn thing can be. One of the first things they made us do in the preview session is to clock the speeds of our current devices to showcase it in comparison to the new BB. Even on the test device, websites were blazing fast and I'm happy to report that the same is true of the final device. Big phew!
- The Camera is an 8 megapixel shooter that is actually quite sharp although I'm yet to review it in dim lighting conditions. The cool thing about the camera is the "Time Shift" function which when activated takes a burst of a few pictures in one shot. As the phone detects faces, what this means is if there are a bunch of people taking pictures together, the camera allows you to literally pick the best shot of the face of each person involved. If you have your eyes closed in the perfect shot of someone else? Easy, just swap it out to the second right before where your eyes are open. Very cool, and very useful.

Image taken from Rogers.com website

- Since we're talking about the camera, a very cool app that comes built in is the "Story Maker" app which is very similar to "iMovie" on the iPhone (although this is free)- It quickly takes snippets of video, still pictures and music and turns it into a funky video clip/slideshow. Again, I just saw this on the demo and am yet to play around with it. Video review to follow!
- The BlackBerry guys talk about the "Blackberry Hub" a lot- which is just a place where all the msgs- be they from twitter, facebook, BBM, SMS or email all show up together, so you can access all your info from one place. I found this to be slightly more confusing than simple, and hopefully I'll just get used to that soon. Clearly there is a slight learning curve there.

Overall, despite mixed reviews published by tech blogs, I'm personally a huge fan of the BlackBerry 10. I have always been a fan of BBM and despite the bells and whistles of other smartphones, I've still kept my BlackBerry, albeit as a second phone, to do what it does best- Communicate.. that too securely.
BBM has always just worked for me. I'm able to keep in touch with the ppl in my life that matter, and while yes, WhatsApp and iMessage are available on other platforms, they just haven't been as easy, or moreover RELIABLE to use as BBM. I've never had a message not get delivered despite the phone showing it has, or other confusions I've faced on the other options.
The second biggest reason I love my BlackBerry is my ability to travel with it outside the UAE. No matter where in the world I am, I can always count on my BB to keep me in touch with my work, family and friends. That has more to do with the carriers offering special packages for the BB, and I'm hoping Etisalat and Du will have the good sense to offer reasonable rates for the BB10 as well. I'm also excited that the frustration I used to experience with ridiculously slow browsing speeds while traveling may also be a thing of the past. Add voice and (hopefully!!!) video chat to this and BAM- you've got a dream device!!

For all those writing the BlackBerry's obituary after the launch, I'd like to point out that the same could have been said about Android only a few years earlier. The difference between the two is that the BB still already has a loyal fan base in the UAE and all they need to do is make sure the phone is able to continue to cheaply and securely provide data to their customers. The device itself is a gorgeous one and I think BlackBerry has gotten more right than they have wrong. With a rapidly growing app store and promise of many more popular Apps, I think a lot of people will love their new device and not feel like they are carrying a dinosaur anymore. I dare say we might see people shift back to the BB as their sole device as well. For those who think I'm paying lip service to the brand as I sell them in my stores, there have been a slew of products I've tested out recently and not bothered doing a review as, well, I just didn't want to lie about wanting to own them myself (ahem, BB Porsche design or Surface anyone?) As of now, am loving my BlackBerry Z10 and I can't wait to see the next generation of phones the company comes out with. As they stressed repeatedly in their launch, I too think this is just the beginning for them. 

This is just my initial review after 24 hours of use and in a few days hopefully I'll be back with a video review and a few more tips and tricks about the device and operating system. Stay tuned!
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The BlackBerry 10 is out everywhere in the UAE on February 10th. Due to the high demand of the product, I'd advise you to go into any of the Jumbo Stores to pre-order the device to ensure you get it on the day itself!
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Book Review- Rebecca

 

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," quoted my friend holding up her copy of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. "Err what now?" was my response. "Don't tell me you've never read Rebecca," exclaimed my very astonished friend, "it's a classic!" Ashamed, I had to respond that I had actually never even heard of the book, never mind quoting what I later realized was the book's famous opening line. A quick poll amongst other friends who like to read proved that I was one of the very few who hadn't heard of the book, even if most hadn't read it themselves. 

After finishing Age of Innocence , a book that I absolutely loved, I was looking forward to launching straight into Rebecca especially since Piyali, the quoter of said book's opening line and my book club partner had hated AOI, decided to quit reading it midway and zipped through Rebecca, loving it yet again. I was intrigued by the first few chapters and I carried on reading... and reading.. and reading. "Does anything actually HAPPEN in this damn book?" I texted my friend. She asked me what page number I was on and asked me to keep reading. "Am halfway through," I messaged her a few days later, "still nothing." "Keep at it," came the not very encouraging response. I kept reading and thought ok NOW it's going to turn into a ghost story! Murder mystery maybe? Philosophical tale? All a dream? I met a friend for dinner and mentioned to him that I was reading Rebecca and there was absolutely no plot and that the story wasn't going anywhere. "I'd wait till I get to the last 100 pages of the book," he said smiling. He hadn't read the book he added, but instead watched the movie. Movie? I didn't know there was a movie. Apparently there is- An Alfred Hitchcock one that too, and I believe his first movie ever. I found that out after completing the book and in hindsight realize that the novel is right up Hitchcock's alley. 

So, I finally reached the fabled last hundred pages and bam! Suddenly my dull boring tale became a page turner and I was absolutely hooked. Is there a point to almost half of the book being painfully tedious? Well, yes, it definitely adds to the intrigue and ties it all in together. Could it have been conveyed in fewer words with a lot less description? Well yes, but like a Hitchcock movie it definitely adds to the story and builds it up to the crescendo. Would I recommend it? Definitely. If you have patience that is.

So, here's a glimpse into the story- the woman who acts as our narrator (whose name we never find out) reminisces about, as the first line would suggest, her time at Manderlay. The reader is then transported to the narrator's time as a young girl in Monte Carlo where she acts as a companion to a wealthy woman when meets the rich widower Maxim de Winter, who after a brief courtship offers to marry her and whisk her off to his palatial home that is Manderlay. The new Mrs de Winter goes to Manderlay but something is not quite right. With the sense of the late Rebecca de Winter still looming in the air and the downright spooky Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper and apparent lover of all things Rebecca hanging around things start getting downright strange for our poor narrator. Things go on and get stranger still till... 

Aah but you're going to have to read the book to find that out. Go on, I promise in the end it'll be worth your while. 

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Book Review- Age of Innocence

 Aah! The Age of Innocence! We decided to read this book in my 2 person book club when my friend's daughter was visiting town, joined us as an honorary member and came book shopping with us to help our future picks. I wanted to pick either The Great Gatsby or Age of Innocence but since she too wanted to read this we picked up AOI despite getting much resistance from her Mother. Since the TV show (and one of my ex guilty pleasures) Gossip Girl had referred to this book a few times, I knew it was about New York society, but I didn't really know too much else about it and hadn't seen the movie.
When I started reading the book I found it a bit difficult to get into as I hadn't read a classic for a while (it was written in 1920 but is set in the 1870's) and I found the language a bit difficult to get into. Once I realized to not get bogged into the descriptive element of the book and get the gist of the story line and narrative instead, I found the language to be incredibly beautiful and one of the main reasons why I loved the book so much. As I mentioned already, the book is set in New York City in an era that is governed by convention and appearances. In the first chapter itself I was thoroughly amused by these descriptions and figured the book could very easily be based in Modern Dubai! For example Wharton describes a woman who is at the opera in the setting scene, whose presence is even more noted as she is hosting a ball at her house later that evening, so wants to make a statement as to how well trained her staff are and how often they entertain that her presence is not even required at home. Now make that opera be set at the Madinat and the lady's home at the Emirates Hills and we've got a modern day fairytale! But, I digress...
The book is about a young man, Newland Archer, who is engaged to be married to the young May Welland when her cousin, Countess Olenska comes to town after leaving her husband and causes a stir in the conservative society of New York. Of course, Newland is completely besotted with May are men were expected to be, and May in turn seems to be at first glance the perfect "wife material"and a bit of a mindless bimbo to be honest, but that soon changes. Wharton has a wickedly delicious sense of humour that doesn't always come through at first, but soon you realize she's laughing at the nuances of the society along with you. Her language though shines halfway through the book when it comes to the romance between the characters and the sheer brilliance of her use of words kept me absolutely hooked on to the book. My most favourite line was when Newland Archer tells the Countess about the effect she has on him every time they meet- “Each time you happen to me all over again. ” And another one I absolutely loved- “I shan't be lonely now. I was lonely; I was afraid. But the emptiness and the darkness are gone; when I turn back into myself now I'm like a child going at night into a room where there's always a light.”
 The romance in the novel is beautiful, breathtaking and heart breaking at the same time. And if you think it's a typical romance novel with a predictable end, think again. And as I said earlier, especially if you live in Dubai you may find yourself drawing quite a few parallels... “It was the old New York way...the way people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes", except those who gave rise to them."
I absolutely loved the book and found myself savouring it towards the end as I enjoyed the writing so much. And of course if that's not reason enough, the fact that it won a Pulitzer in 1921 may be enough to tempt you?
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Book Review- Maus

This review refers to "The Complete Maus" which is a publication that contains book 1 and 2, which are also available separately. Maus is not a widely known book despite it having won a Pulitzer prize, and the only reason I'd heard of it and read it around 15 years ago, is because it caught my eye at my College bookstore in the US. After all, it isn't common for a comic book to be featured in any course's reading list, not to mention win a Pulitzer, and that made me want to pick it up and check it out. In my last post, I'd mentioned my book-a-week book club I'd started with a friend, and after Palace of Illusions and Animal Farm I suggested Maus to her and set about rereading the book again.

In case the illustration on the cover isn't a dead giveaway, I'll spell it out- Maus is about the holocaust and is a true story by Art Spiegelman who sets out to do a comic book depicting his Father's nightmarish journey, and ultimate survival, through the same. Through the book, the Jews have been depicted as mice, the Poles as Pigs and Germans as Cats. Ironically, the last book we'd read as part of the book club was Animal Farm which depicts events taking place right before WWII and of course, also uses animals to depict it's story. Having not read too much about the holocaust since I generally favour fiction to non-fiction, the subject matter was new to me as I'd even skipped out on watching movies on it such as Schindler's List. There is one thing knowing exactly what happened during the holocaust, but it's another to read through a painful narration of a man who went hungry for days and in some instances eats snow to be alive, for whom a small piece of bread is the difference between life and death, and whose family was almost all completely wiped out in the Holocaust.

When discussing the book with my friend during our book club meet, she and her daughter both gave me feedback that they hadn't really enjoyed the book and wondered how it had won a Pulitzer. My friend even said that she felt the story being told in comic form almost trivialized the occurrences. In hindsight, I feel Maus is about so much more than just the holocaust, it is a beautiful depiction of human suffering, the desire to survive in face of torment and the aftermath of that struggle. Spiegelman portrays his tense relationship with his father whom he shows being extremely stingy to the point of embarrassing his son on multiple occasions. At the end of the book he also portrays the Father's unpleasant reaction to an African American, which makes you think about racism and hate breeding hate. The most shocking is that Spiegelman's Mother survives all the torture of the holocaust only to commit suicide years later, without even leaving a note.

All in all I personally very much enjoyed Maus and would highly recommend it to anyone, especially for someone who, like me, may not have read too much about the holocaust.
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Book Review- Animal Farm

So to explain what exactly prompted me to pick up a classic, especially one as non traditional as Animal Farm I'm going to have to give you a back story and also explain why you may be seeing a multitude of book reviews on my blog. My friend and I were chatting one evening about the books we'd read and despite my being a voracious reader, I was blown away by the types of books she'd read, and the speed at which she read them. She mentioned then that to encourage her teenage daughter to read more classics and more literature (rather than the 50-types-of-trash that seem to be so popular these days) she started a book club with her for 5 weeks (the daughter was soon off to boarding school) where they picked a book to finish each week after which they'd had a discussion on their literary consumption. What a fantastic idea, I thought aloud, and asked if she'd want to have the same set up with me. I love to read but recently I'd just gotten downright lazy at it. Watching mindless TV shows just seemed to take up way too much of my time and even when I was reading, I seemed to veer towards the "Best Sellers" section at the bookstore rather than picking up anything substantial and worthwhile. Since she hated most fiction unless it fit in the classics genre, I knew I'd be exploring books outside my comfort zone, yet the types I'd always wanted to explore, and hence our 2 person "book club" was born.

So.. Animal Farm. Definitely outside my literary comfort zone! Most of you would have heard of the book, and a lot of you read it at school or college. I'd heard a lot about it and knew that it was a simple story, steeped in imagery and was about, as the name suggests, an Animal Farm! The book is only 90 something pages so is a very quick read, and can almost be a mindless children's book if you read it as is without trying to really read between the lines. It tells the story of a bunch of animals that drive out the owner of the farm they are housed in and decide to run things themselves and take matters into their own hands if you will. The short simple tale has many subtexts to it, which touches on communism vs socialism, on politicians vs the masses, and at it's very core, human social interactions and what happens when equality is assumed amongst a group of people who, given their abilities, socioeconomic status, education and upbringing, are clearly not equal.

But to really read the book and not go into it's history and the story it was meant to originally portray (despite your own interpretation of it and how it relates to the modern world) is to do it grave injustice. Honestly, I didn't really research the book and the history, despite knowing that the story was meant to portray the Russian Revolution. Luckily my friend is sort of Google Queen and had gone deep into the history of Russia and researched the book to correlate it to events and I was pretty impressed as to how Orwell had through a simple story, depicted the rumblings and undercurrents between the masses that took place during and after the revolution. They are many writings on the same, but if you've read the book already or intend to, you can check out this link that lays it out quite simply- http://www.slideshare.net/middletons1/russian-revolution-animal-farm 

All in all I'm glad I didn't read the book in isolation and had someone who did the research and explained a lot of things to me. All in all, I wouldn't say this was a great read like Palace of Illusions which I couldn't put down, but it was more of an educational read and I'm glad I took the time out to go through it.
If by any chance you'd like to virtually be part of our book club and share your thoughts with us, do let me know and I can post the names of the book as we're about to start on them, or give you a short list on what we're planning on reading next. Also if you guys have any recommendations, do let me know and I'll be sure to check them out!
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Book Review- The Palace of Illusions

A few years ago a Pakistani friend of mine suggested I read "The Palace of Illusions." I mention my friend's Nationality as said book is based on the Mahabharata and is written from Draupadi, the female protagonists point of view. I was extremely intrigued and had come home and downloaded it on my Kindle and then promptly ignored it, while I had probably gotten submerged by other books and useless TV shows. Then last week I was over at another friend's home who is Indian, an atheist, extremely intelligent and one of the most well read people I know. "You have to read this book," she prodded, sometime after she quoted quantum physicists and some mumbo jumbo about protons and ions and lots of research she had read before she decided to convert to atheism. So a Muslim and an atheist both prodded me to read a book based on the a story of a war which is the setting for the most religious of Hindu scriptures- the Bhagwad Gita. I was extremely intrigued and started on the book the next day itself.
If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you will know I worship Vikram Seth and that "A Suitable Boy" is my most favourite book of all time, a book I reread for the third time over the summer. All I can say is "The Palace of Illusions" either shares that top spot with ASB or could possibly have dethroned it altogether. If you're reading this and you're a Hindu, the story this book is based on is possibly quite known to you. Draupadi is married to five brothers, the Pandavs, and they go to war against their cousins, the Kauravas. If however, you haven't a clue about the story of the Mahabharata, that one line is quite possibly all you need to know before you read the book. How then, can one of the best books I've ever read be based on a story I already knew? Therein lies the brilliance of the book. Divakaruni, while writing this book, takes creative liberty in taking you through the detailed story and emotions of the protagonist, exploring a love story within the Mahabharata that isn't often spoken about or commonly known, and gives you a vivid picture of the occurrences as they happen. And her writing... aah her writing! The writing is pure poetry and is especially heightened almost reaching a dramatic crescendo at the end. My friend reread the book with me and in a quick swapping of notes yesterday, we realized we both cried at it's end, more because the words moved us so rather than because of the story line- one we both were quite familiar with. When "A Suitable Boy" ended, each of the three times I read it, I had been left with a feeling of emptiness as I felt a world that I had been built for me and suddenly vanished and I had been left alone without it; Most people would know that feeling which could come at the end of a great book or great movie. At the end of "A Palace of Illusions" however, I finished it on a complete high, feeling completely satiated and satisfied and almost privilidged to be allowed to witness glimpses into such personal moments of another's life. Strangely, both my friend and I had the same reaction to the end. Something about it makes you want to sit in thoughtful silence after turning the last page.
In my book reviews I really don't like giving spoilers or giving too many details away about the storyline as I feel one doesn't enjoy the book remotely as much if you know what's going to happen next. If that is what is holding you back, I suggest you put your misconception aside and still give it a shot. Had someone given me that advice, I'd possibly have read the book years ago when its first rave review had made me download it. Now, as you can guess, I can't recommend "A Palace of Illusions" enough! Very rarely does a book come into your life and make you feel like nothing will ever be the same again. I dare you to read it and not feel the same.
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Book Review- Laws of the Spirit World

Over the years of writing this blog I've written a lot about my roller coaster ride with all things spiritual- at times I'm totally obsessed with alternative therapies and reading up about different subjects to do with God, the Universe, the unknown and all else that comes along with it.. and then I'll go into a phase where I think it all is hogwash and get completely turned off the "business" of spirituality, because that's exactly what it is- a business. I am in a bit of an in between phase right now, where I am getting curious again but am able to separate the message from the person and prefer to get my knowledge from books rather being disappointed by the speaker of the knowledge. Anyhow, a few days ago I decided to pick up a book relating to spirituality and "Laws of the Spirit World" is the first book I came across on my bookshelf. I've always been curious about death and the afterlife and this particular book is one that I've heard so much about over the years, that I was actually surprised I had it and hadn't read it earlier.
Most people have a notion about what happens to them after they die- Some base it on what they've heard or learned, most base it on what it is their religion tells them, and a lot of people just don't think about it at all. I belong to the 1st category, where I've always wondered and been curious about what happens to us, and I guess after losing my Father ten years ago, I started to actively search for answers. I've read a lot of books on the subject, and through my practicing of Hypnotherapy (I'm a certified clinical hypnotherapist) have studied a lot about life between lives, etc. In short, "Laws of the Spirit World" was not the first encounter I had with the subject.
20 pages into the book, I absolutely loved it. The book is one that has been narrated to the author, Khorshed Bhavnagiri, by her 2 sons that passed away in a car accident. They, through "automatic writing" talk about what happened to them immediately after their demise, what they felt like, what they experienced, and what they've learned during their time on the Other Side, etc.  There was a lot of stuff in the book that absolutely resonated with my beliefs and explained them in an absolutely beautiful way. The book for example talks about the motive behind people's actions and says that people sometimes even help others or do charity for all the wrong reasons, and that's almost worse than not doing it at all- I completely agree with that. It also talks about what happens when you sleep, the different realms spirits reside on, the concept of rebirth, etc. Very intriguing and thought provoking stuff.
As I got more into the book however, there was a lot of stuff in it that didn't resonate with my beliefs. For example, I do not believe in the concept of hell, whereas this book seems to belong a little too much to the, "do this, or else..." mentality. I also believe that Karma is nothing but a set of experiences- if you do nice to someone, you need to experience, in one of your lifetimes, somebody doing something nice to you... it sort of balances itself out. I also don't believe there is necessarily "right vs wrong"- sometimes a person's circumstances are such that affect their actions. Anyhow, the book talks at various times about how helping an "evil" person is a sin, how one must expose evil people to warn other people against them, etc. I've seen too many "spiritualites" in Dubai taking a few weekend courses and suddenly claiming (and believing) they are the authority on what is right and wrong, so I clearly am jaded and think that in the grander sense, we are no one to put labels on people. I believe forgiveness and love is all that people should strive towards rather than trying to figure out whether the people they are helping are evil or not.
Anyhow, I don't mean to make this review about my spiritual beliefs but I didn't know how to get into the review without highlighting a few of them. Bottom line, read "Laws of the Spirit World" with an open mind, especially if its your first foray into the subject. Read about what's being written and absorb what you resonate with and discard what you don't. The subject in itself is fascinating enough for you to want to give it a whirl, and if nothing else, read it as if its fiction if it goes against your religious beliefs. For those who are interested in exploring the subject further, do check out "Sounds of Silence" and "Journey of Souls" as well, and of course, "Conversations with God". Suggestions for books on this or related subjects are most welcome too!
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Camera comparison between the Galaxy Note2 and iPhone5

In my previous blog post I'd done a quick review of the Galaxy Note 2 and I assumed I'd use it for a while and then go back to my trusted iPhone 5.. that has not been the case. I'm actually shocked by how much I love the phone despite a few shortcomings. There are a few things I really miss about the iPhone5 and the stunning image quality from the cameras is one of them. I promised to take a few pictures from both cameras and am actually pretty amazed as to how well the iPhone 5 has performed. Here are some test shots taken in different lighting conditions that my gorgeous model Chintu posed for me in-

Taken with the Note 2 in a dimly lit room

Taken with the iPhone 5 in a few minutes of the earlier one in exact same lighting

Same lighting conditions- with flash taken with the Note 2

Same lighting conditions- taken with flash on an iPhone5. The top part is blurry as I think he realized in time to avert his gaze so as not to get blinded again!

Taken with the Note 2 in a well lit room with lots of natural sunlight

Same picture taken with an iPhone5

And it's in direct sunlight where this is very little difference between the 2- This is taken with the Note2

And this one with an iPhone5.

As you can tell, the iPhone 5 could very easily replace someone's digital camera and its quality in darker conditions really is phenomenal. It's not that the Note2 has a bad camera at all. It's just that the iPhone5 is, well, much much better. There was another picture that I took which shows the seat number in a dark movie theater that just came out as a black screen on the Note2. Maybe it's unfair to require your phone camera to take perfectly decent pictures in horribly lit conditions but Apple and Nokia have pushed the bar just that high so that is the benchmark that other phone manufacturers will now get compared to.
I'm actually contemplating buying the new iPod Touch to carry around with me for the 2 reasons I miss the iPhone most- the camera and the iPod functionality. I have been carrying the 5 in my handbag for the gym anyway (while not using it as a phone) and would appreciate something thinner and lighter, occupying less space. Having said that, the new Touch has a 5 megapixel camera as opposed to the 8 in the iPhone5 so I need to have another shootout to compare the two. Watch this space!
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Both the iPhone5 and the Note2 are available at Jumbo Electronics outlets in the UAE

My Galaxy Note 2 review-

While the iPhone5 was one of the most awaited phones on the market, I had secretly yearned for the Galaxy Note 2 for a few months already. Having used, and been surprised by the first Galaxy Note last year, I was quite curious to see exactly what Samsung would come up with next, given that the S3 was a phone almost every Android user raved about and that the Note 2 would not only have the newest Android software (Jellybean) but also a faster processor and better camera.

So as I focus my reviews on the non-techies, let me try to keep things simple- this phone is FAST (techies note- quadcore Exynor and twice the RAM fast) and bloody cool. Yes, it still is incredibly big and Samsung is the pioneer with the predecessor of this device to serve up a complete separate line of devices to lust after- the phablet (phone+tablet). If you're reading this review and already think the new iPhone 5 is way too big for your handbag/pocket, stop reading this review right here. This thing is large and will look a bit comical if held up to your ear. Over the past few days every single person who has asked me about whether they should get this phone has been met with two questions by me- "Do you use a headset to speak on your phone a lot? And do you read a lot on your device?" If the answers to both are yes, this may just be your dream phone.

As mentioned earlier, this device is a bit too large to hold up to your ear, although I have quite a bit I must admit, not having had my headset on a handful of times. So if you use a bluetooth or wired headset to talk, you're good to go. Secondly, if you are in the habit of reading a lot on your phone- be it emails, Facebook, Twitter, or just random articles from Zite/Pulse while away from your computer, your eyes will thank you for being able to read on the gorgeous screen. Playing games, watching movies, it's all really great to do on the device. Being able to watch moving on a pop up window while working in the background is even better! The Note 2 allows you to do just that.

While most people will like this phone just to be able to have a bigger screen, the stylus (called S Pen) is also really great to use. You can download a whole bunch of sketching applications or can just use the "S Note" app that came pre-installed in the phone which allows you to let your creative/artistic style run wild. Of course, you could just use it to hand write notes in a meeting, and maybe this is a good time to add, the handwriting recognition on this thing too works like a dream. Anyhow, back to using S Note, I made the following "drawing" in under 2 minutes .Please excuse the childlike artwork.. was just playing around on the phone to demonstrate and email to a friend what the phone could do and used the illustrations that are a part of a huge selection of images available for the S Note app-

While "S Pen" has dozens of uses and shortcuts that you can read about in a detailed review of the phone posted up on Engadget today (I'll link to that at the end of this review) the most useful one is the S Note app popping up each time the stylus is removed from the device. This also works while one is one the phone and a tiny post-it sized note pad pops up which will allow you to easily jot notes or phone numbers while on an existing call. Very, VERY handy. The camera on the Note2 is an 8 megapixel one and is quite good. I'm planning to have a separate post on that comparing it to the iPhone5 in various lighting conditions. (I'll give you a hint here- the iPhone5 can't be beat in low light conditions)

It is only fair for me to mention the hiccups I've had with this phone though... On two separate occasions I was unable to call or text a particular contact on my phone. Meaning that on those occasions (these are 2 separate people) I was able to call and text other people except for the person I was trying to get in touch with. Texts wouldn't go through and calls would just say "call ended" without any attempt to reach the other party. I do think though this was the fault of a buggy software and check back in a few days to see an update on whether its happened again. I also do think at worst its just that I had a faulty device, but as I said, I'd like to give a full disclosure on my experience so am mentioning it anyway. Also the buttom buttons are too closely placed to the edge of the device which is great as it means more screen space, but be ready to get annoyed with yourself for accidentally pressing them a lot!Also "S Voice" the Siri type "assistant" is beyond rubbish on the phone. Complete waste of time and memory (on the device that is).

Having said that I really enjoyed being able to surf, watch video clips, read and play games all day (basically I'm a heavy user) while at the end of the day glancing at my phone and only seeing 50 to max 60% of the battery used up! The battery on this device is INCREDIBLE.. the best I've seen on a mobile device! My iPhone4S (and iPhone5 for that matter) starts showing signs of death at around 6 or 7.. usually before I get home, if that's any indication. The million dollar question I seem to get asked- iPhone5 or Note 2? Not an easy question at all as both have their pros and cons and I promise to do a separate comparison post soon and maybe show some videos of the device side by side. In the meantime check it out at your nearest Jumbo store why don't you? (Shameless plug for the day: DONE!) ;)

 Here is an in depth video of the Note2 on Samsung's YouTube channel-

You can also check out Engadget's detailed review here
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My iPhone 5 review!

Photo taken from CNET

I waited with bated breath three days ago to finally receive the box of my favourite toy- the highly anticipated iPhone 5. Nothing gets me more excited than new gadget days and obviously a toy like this which is a hot commodity worldwide, is one to be especially excited for, and I was no exception. I've put the phone through it's paces and instead of just giving it a rave review based on its looks and the fact that I'm the epitome of an Apple fangirl, I wanted to really test it out to give it a fair assessment.

Difference in size between the 4S and the 5 (photo taken from CNET)

There are a few things that I love, and a few things I am not particularly thrilled about on the iPhone 5. Let me get into the obvious ones that people have been raving after- it's light (noticeably so! in fact shockingly so!) and the extra screen space is a most welcome addition. The camera is supposed to be better but honestly I haven't used it enough to see the difference. However, I recently tweeted some links to articles (this is one of them) that shows the camera in action and it really looks amazing. The body of the iPhone as well is absolutely gorgeous, especially in black. I must advice those who are looking to get it in white before they have a look at the device- I had a white 4S and ordered a white iPhone 5 and when I held it, it didn't look or feel "new" enough for me. The black with it's brushed metal back and black sides looks much sleeker and different and hence I swapped my phone in for that one, and I'm so glad I did.

Now here come the bits I'm not really liking- There is no LTE on Etisalat at the moment. I have the phone and hence can confirm I'm still surfing on old 3G speeds. Speed on the phone is one of the key selling points of it worldwide and unfortunately we are as of yet unable to take advantage of that. I was also not thrilled to have to experiment and cut up my nano SIM card for it. I understand that it takes up space and was a necessary move for the phone, but for someone who swaps out phones constantly, it is an inconvenience to say the least. I still carry in my wallet an outer shell cover to turn a micro SIM into a regular one, just in case I have an urge to swap phones somewhere. You can then understand my frustration. One more thing I didn't realize till I actually cut my SIM and had the phone functioning properly- despite having a factory unlocked device from the UK, I was unable to activate FaceTime on it at all. So while OS6 allows for FaceTime over 3G as well as WiFi, Apple/TRA have figured out a way so that even devices not sold here have a block put on them. If you're one of those like me, who had a factory unlocked unit from elsewhere and had FaceTime on your 4S, please note: As of now, I have not figured out a way to activate it on my iPhone 5! Big bummer. Huge. Don't even get my started about the new adapter. In these 2 days already I've had two situations where I needed to charge my iPhone and realized, neither my office nor my friend's home (places I was) had a charger for the new iPhone. Painful and inconvenient and unnecessarily so. Another huge gripe I have with the new phone is it's headset placement at the bottom. I'm very used to, while driving in my car, holding the iphone the right way up and swiping to take a call without looking at the screen... that is no more the case. Also, since I use a wired headset to talk on said call, I usually have it always plugged in to my phone. With it placed at the bottom, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to hold the phone and type properly, hence leading me to constantly have to yank out the headset and put it back in. Again, unnecessarily inconvenient.

To add to my woes it doesn't help that my particular unit is a bit buggy at the moment. The first night I plugged it into my computer to charge as I always did my old iPhone 4S and in the morning, the battery had actually drained through the night. This is with it actually showing up the charging symbol on the phone so it's not like I hadn't plugged it the right way in. A quick reboot though solved the situation and it charges fine, but after reading some reports that people have been having trouble charging it through the computer, I've stuck to it being plugged into a wall socket. This morning I tried to type some things into the screen and it actually wasn't responding to my touch for a few seconds as well... something I'm hoping was a one off. Please let me point out that it is not uncommon for certain handsets to have glitches and I'm sure thousands of others using the iPhone 5 have no problems doing so. I'm mentioning this for full disclosure on my experience as well as an issue of a warning for those who don't want to wait for those who buy the phone from the official channel once its launched. No warranty can be a pain.

I know it sounds like I have only negative points to talk about and I really don't... the device is great and as I said, I love the look and feel of it. There are LOADS of reviews online from people who are absolutely crazy about the device and all the features it offers. I really wish LTE (or what everyone I've been speaking to is terming "4G") was available from the start for me to really tell a difference in operation as most of those reviews are raving about the blazing fast internet speeds. I have heard however, that both Du and Etisalat have confirmed it in the future. The look of the phone can't be beat and is an absolutely gorgeous GORGEOUS device and really, FaceTime wasn't available to most phones in the UAE anyway.. it was just a matter of time they caught up to the rest of us. As for the nano SIM, Apple are trendsetters and after they went Micro in the 4, didn't like everyone follow suit? As for the adapter, almost everyone I know who has a 4S now is looking to upgrade and very soon charger problems will be a thing of the past.
Yet, there is one small question keeps niggling at me and I can't quite find the answer. Why am I missing my 4S so damn much?
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UPDATE!!!- Just to let you know, both FaceTime and iMessage on my UK-originated device are now working just fine on the Etisalat network!

Microsoft Surface- a sneak peak..

As the release of Microsoft's Surface inches closer, there is a certain buzz taking place in tech blogs about this little device. For those who don't know what it is, it is Microsoft's entry into the tablet space, a space that is obviously mostly taken over my Apple, with Samsung and Amazon gunning for the iPad's market share. Apple however has plans to invade their territory instead with a highly rumoured iPad Mini to be released before the end of the year that will compete with the lower priced Android devices currently on offer. I read a story earlier today that Microsoft will be giving all its full time employees with a Surface which I think would be great not only for employee morale, but will improve visibility of the product and promote the product through word of mouth. Microsoft after all, isn't exactly a small company! The nifty little device is going to be launched on 26th with a previously rumoured price of 199USD with Steve Ballmer recently going on record with the Seattle Times suggesting it will cost somewhere between 300 to 700 or 800 USD.
If you haven't already seen pictures of one, the device has a 10.6 inch screen, a kickstand and will run Windows 8. The USP of the device of course remains its tactile multi-touch keyboard, which seemingly has left a lot of tech critics very impressed. We will see details in a month when the device is actually available, but in the meantime here is a video to whet your appetite.

I'm super excited to get my hands on one of these! Probably even more so than the iPad Mini! If this functions well, it will be quite revolutionary indeed!
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