Silhouettes of Marina Beach

What the Construction Industry needs to learn

This man gives the message in the most eloquent way on what the construction industry needs to do and what people getting homes need to do, I have tried and will follow as much as possible from here ... I hope the listeners do the same...

The Pets we never had

I have always been fascinated by dogs since childhood. I like them and have had a variety of experiences including being bitten by one Ms Tina (a pom) who got me 14 injections around my naval.

Ever since we moved into our own house, we have become friends with a lot with stray dogs and for some reason they are now laying pups in our parking lot. The first lot was Harry and Scary (named by my daughter) who have been adopted now and are living in great surroundings.

Hairy and Scary just before they were sent to their new home ...

With the mom ... a really smart lady who did her best to take care of her kids...

I thought that after finding a home for Hairy and Scary, it was over, but then this happened!

Spotty because she has spots and Browny because he is brown

Strangely these guys never let me touch them but come and ask me for food and want to play with me and the kids. I guess these are our pets at the end of the day and we do what best we can to take care of them rather than finding them a new homes ...

Agfa Click III - The epitome of simplicity

The camera is one of the most user friendly cameras to operate, note that I just say operate and not anything else. Getting film for it is a big task and getting the film washed is even bigger a task.

The camera helps one understand the basics of photography well as it can be dissected and striped into parts and assembled back again n less than 5 mins.

On its hay day, the camera would have been a stud considering the fact that it has options to adjust its aperture to suit different lighting conditions.

The Tower 50

I was looking around for information on this camera on the internet and managed to find very less. I was hoping that some day this camera would help me become a millionaire by way of finding an antique collector who would pay be enough for this, but it looks like I ll have to work my way to become a millionaire now. The Tower 50 is apparently available for 50-100 USD n shops ... boo hoo hoo.

About the camera, its a solid piece, takes in regular 35MM film and has elaborate instructions as you can see, its a solid piece of German engineering, the results are awesome, will soon take some photos and post them.

Birding at Vedanthangal

Will the Samsung Galaxy S4 be my last Samsung product?

Update: 2016

I am happy to report that after making the switch to an iPhone over a year back, I have had no regrets and have been absolutely happy with everything. The answer is simple, yes the S4 was my last Samsung phone!

This is a blog post about my experience of dealing with Samsung Electronics... I will keep updating it as my conversations with them carry on ... 

 The Story Board

11 May 2013

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 - supposedly the most sophisticated smartphone available in the market then.

My Samsung Mobile Experience Between 11 May 2013 and  Now

 Signal Issues

My phone signal drops off randomly while showing full strength, I assume that it is the problem with the service provider in my area and do not complain and decide to wait and watch if the problem persists. Rightfully, the problem was with the service provider and the phone started working after I moved my house.

Hanging

The phone is very much prone to the occasional hanging. I don't worry too much and blame it on the touch wiz interface in general.

Slow Camera Start up Time

Every single time I use the S4 camera, I wish I had bought an iPhone.

While most of my friends and family with iPhones do not miss "kodak moments" ... I along with my phone have become a subject of mockery due to the retarded response of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Camera. It takes a minimum of 3-4 seconds to turn on the camera.

I use a top of the line 32 gb class 10 memory card and try archiving all my photos regularly. In spite of all this, no change in camera response time.

Withering away of Paint

This is the most horrible part. I had bought a BASEUS case for Rs 1,000the same time I got my phone. Within a matter of less than 9 months, the chromium plating around the phone starts withering away. My previous phone, the Nokia E71 chromium plating did not give way until 3 years of working for me. For a princely sum of Rs 41.5K .... what Samsung offers is garbage.

 30 Jan 2014

I wrote to the Samsung Customer service team expressing my two main problems,

1. Slow Camera Startup Time
2. Withering away of Paint

31 Jan 2014

I got a call from a lady called Ms Komal from Samsung Customer Support this morning. She only wants to talk about the camera startup issue and did not want to talk about the withering paint since it was not covered under warrenty.

Samsung should have rather employed an automated bot than hiring this lady. Since Bots could have had a better conversation with me. She was talking with a tone that made her sound like a princess and as though she was doing me a favour by calling me.

I refuse to accept her point that withering paint was my problem and told her that I want to talk to a higher up who can talk more sense.

and I am waiting .... let us see how this goes on.

And yes, for all those planning to buy a Samsung smart phone, please watch this space!!!