HTC One x reivew

ok, so here we go, its been way too long since i have written something on my blog. will attempt to do a tech blog today.

i bought the HTC One X about 2 months ago and this blog is a review of the phone. the phone is extremely light and feels great to use. the touch screen works as a touch screen should which is super responsive to touch. the dealer from whom i bought the phone said that i should put in an extra screen gaurd, didnt see the point of it since this was supposed to guerilla 2 glass but went ahead and put it any way.

Screen: the screen display is simply amazing, one feels the crispness of the picture and graphics whenever you turn the screen. you would start expecting this for other phones and devices that you view.. :), the touch screen is hyper responsive and allows you to do most tasks smoothly and manuever your way around easily.

Camera: this is the main reason you should buy the phone, i mean i m not into photography but some of the shots that have come about are stunning, plus you can do super stuff like add effects to pictures etc before taking them. Camera load time is less than 1 sec, which is pretty cool if you are  pass through photographer like me. I took some videos using the phone and they came out superb as well.

Games: Again the screen size and crispness of the picture will enable full enjoyment of games, however there is one thing that i noticed. some times after playing for about 10 to 15 mins the phone becomes super hot- i mean you could cook an omlette on it. this is especially true if you have left some game open and locked the screen- the phone just overheats in this case- so you definitely need to have a task manager which can kill stuff that you are not using.

Phone: I used the headsets provided by HTC and the clarity is simply superb, Can do easy 1 to 2 hour calls on this phone without it eating any battery or getting overheated. therefore talk time is not a problem. if you like me are travelling abroad and dont want the hassle of changing SIM's etc its best to put the phone on airplane mode- otherwise it drains itself in about half a day.

Music: i have still not broadcasted songs on this phone but i am looking forward considering the clarity i was able to extract out of the music.

SMS threads: this is one super feature, if you are sending a sms to someone you can actually have the entire history of correspondence which makes it easy to refer back (same as a i-phone i hear)

Sync: they have thought of almost everything with this phone, you can actually sync with your older phone and pull contacts and even SMS!!!, this i thought was pretty cool since continuation is a key when selecting a device.

Phone book: you can type a persons name and it will pick out who you are trying to call, for example if you wanted to type JOHN, simply go to the phone menu and hit 5646 and it will show you the list of Johns available on your phone book.

Apps/App Store: Pre loaded apps such as facebook etc are good to have since you are probably going to post some pics and updates as soon as you get near a Wi-fi

Multi Screen: Well your multi-split screen is a great place to store your apps- helps you in navigating to your favorite apps which you have downloaded.

All in all i think that the HTC One X is great value for money. With a 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich OS and the stunning camera it will do spectacular justice if you have become addicted to clicking away...

Thats all for now and do write back if you fancy a conversation...

Pathetic customer service by Carnation

This is a customer spasing story about how poor customer service is in our country.

Culprit: Carnation

Verdict: The most pathetic customer service i have ever experienced in my life.

The Story:

Day 1: Friday, June 10th 2011- My car met with an accident and bonnet, headlights and bumper were totalled, called the insurance folks and was put on to Carnation body repair, this is were the trouble started. I should have gone to my regular servicing centre, it would have been much easier to sort out this mess.

So Carnation didn't have any one to pick up my car on the same day, this apparently after having 24X7 road service assistance as claimed on thier website. So i had to leave my car in the office for the weekend, the car wouldn't lock. (Btw if a company claims 24X7 assistance should this also extend to servicing the vehicle, i mean how pathetic can you get???)

Day 4: Monday, June 13th 2011- The folks from carnation arrived and took the details from me regarding my vehicle, i told them about a small dent which was present in my car on the front end and asked them to remove that as well. I was promised that this would happen- copious notes were taken down and promises were made saying "we will fix this, yes we will do it", the car was driven from my office in silk board to marathahalli on the same day.

Day 5: Tuesday, June 14th 2011- i didnt follow up on this day too much- i was told that the bajaj allianz people will go and visit carnation to do a spot inspection and recommend the repairs that could be done- i assumed that all would be fine- i didnt call to check.

Apparently both bajaj allianz and carnation are under the impression that the customer will do everything and follow up for things that need to be done by these companies??? I blame Bajaj allianz more than carnation because they pointed me to these jokers.

Day 6: Wednesday, June 15th 2011- i call carnation and ask any idea as to when i will get my car and the reply is we dont know sir? bajaj allianz has still not given us the go ahead to start repair of the vehicle!!! I am shocked, i ask " What do you mean by that?" they say well we sent Bajaj Allianz a bill of some 36 K and they are saying it will only be 22 K, i steamed at this point because i was travelling to work using my friends transport and nothing seemed to be going right with this service folks.

So here I am almost a week later relentlessly calling up with the Bajaj allianz trash trying to get them to approve the bill so that my pathetic service station can proceed with the repair???? I finally manage to get through in the evening- and the person says we will give them the notification tomorrow!!!!!- since i am a program manager i already know that this is going to end badly.

Day 7: Thursday, June 16th 2011- the repair has finally started, i keep asking the manager from carnation if i can get the car the next day? and the answer is yes sir, we are doing our best- we will deliver the car as soon as we finish repairs-

its been a whole week since the incident and there is no end in sight for this nightmare called carnation services. Like every show room/ service centre the entire excersise is a pathetic excuse for customer service and lack of responsibility and lack of customer focus. never use carnation, its the worst service i can think of.

Day 8: Friday, June 17th 2011- Well the repairs are being done and i am constantly in touch with the managers at carnation and inexplicable delays are starting to occur- I am losing my cool and these guys are doing me any good by giving me wrong information from when it will be delivered to how things are shaping up,

No one calls the customer to give him/her the update- it is our responsibility to follow up for something for which we are paying for???? A paan wala gives better customer service than these repair/service centres, luckily all customers in India have accepted this as reality and dont expect any better from any of them.

I am told towards the evening that the bonnet is not finished and they can deliver the car only on the next day, i am left with no transport and am spending extra money to move around the city.

Day 9: Saturday, June 18th, 2011- I call the carnation people in the morning to find out that repairs are still being carried out on the car- fed up i shout @ the manager and whoever else is on the phone- they say painting of the car bonnet is still pending and it will take till afternoon.

I call repeatedly and in the afternoon i am told that it will take till evening, i keep calling whosever number i can find and finally I am told the problem in the afternoon- "Sir actually there was a problem, we had kept your bonnet down for drying and someone drove over it", i looked @ the phone and said are you freaking serious??? what kind of clowns run this place??????

Mr Jagdish Khattar,

What would you do if you were in my place? wouldnt you want to sue this company for sheer negligence and lying to customers?

I shout and shout and shout finally getting a promise that everything will be fixed by evening- its been 9 days since my car went into your service centre- if it were up to me, i would have repaired this car myself had i known what a bunch of joker run your service centre.

Day 9: The car is finally delivered in the evening @ 8 o clock back to my office premises- the loss to me one whole week of peace thanks to amazing customer service standards in your centre.

I inspected my car and found that some other spare parts were used for the headlights... it doesnt look like the headlights replaced were original!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- can you believe this !@#$???

So after shaking my head @ the pathetic excuse of service i pay the guy who came the money and take the car home.

If you have come this far, you can guess how customer service is provided by companies like bajajallianz and carnation, its so bad that i cant believe how these jokers are still in business.

Overall i blame bajajallianz more than carnation as insurance company should have known better than to trust such third rate service centres.

thanking you,

yet another disgusted customer...

Wisdom

We pay for creative assets, never for the commodity, discernment is true intelligence!!

all things that we pay for must have some unique value attached to them, that value is most visible by the creator and the buyer-

this is the definition of true value, its understanding is very important for us to move ahead in life.. :)

One night in Manila

So here we are, coming to the end of term 3, as someone counted thats T-96 days to go for us to be official MBA's.

Add another feather to the cap i say, but thats not the subject of this post. The thing i wanted to talk about is silence.

There seems to be nothing to say any more. most of the times i am content listening to music or the ilk. if i am with someone just a stray random thought crosses the mind once in a while. Have i reached Nirvana one may ask? i dont know what it is but this feeling of mental silence is quite beautiful a thought.

I used to meditate a couple of years ago, during this time i was able to keep my mind still for over 2 mins.. no thoughts... nothing... just feeling waves upon waves of peace. Now its happening without me sitting in a meditative posture or mood.

Maybe i will re-start it just for kicks and see if my mind could feel the same waves of peace. Stillness, Silence, peace and all those good things which most wise men seek in thier lifetimes.

Stray thought

no one talk to, nothing to say, seems to be that the world has gone stray, wake up in the morning and watch the world pass, thinking i should just be lying on the grass...

The Sun Feast Bangalore 5 K run

So there i was right @ the entrance to gate 10, waiting for my friend. the crowd was enormous, it was like a swarm of bees awaiting nectar of life.

my friend called me at about 5 minutes to 9. the Majja run was about to start. After procrastinating for about 5 minutes i hid my bag in the bushes. (didnt want to carry it with me) :)

We were like cattle being herded (thats how it felt as we went up the ramps towards the top bunks of the stadium.)

As I hit the tar surface the realism of the run dawned on me, and off i went running hard towards the exit (away from the crowd), managed to run about 1.5 km when my lungs felt like bursting, kidneys start paining & my liver wanted to jump out of my body.

Slowed down considerably then but i still managed to reach the 3 K mark, after which my legs gave up and my body started exuding too much sweat to cool me off..

A regular supply of water and watching some chicks running ahead kept me motivated for those 3 kms that i ran.

after that i started walking, (by this time most people in the crowd were walking too), so i walked with them 2 Kms right till the finish line.

One thing i realized is that I am not quite motivated by running as there is no reward @ the end.

I think that this will be my first and last marathon due to the above reason. the experience was worthwhile though.

Afterwards me and my friend went to Pecos and had a good hearty breakfast + Beer.

Spent 6 hours in coma after i reached home!!, cheers it was good fun.

End of Post
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Another nothing day

So i sat in office today and did nothing, realized that my boss was not coming to office and things could not proceed without her inputs on my stuff...

So i took off after lunch and went straight to the oriental insurance office in jayanagar only to find it closed,

they have now relocated right next to Pai viceroy. in fact they are bang opposite Pai viceroy.

So i entered that languorous government office only to find it the same, stacks of old files rotting like corpses, the air of a diseased patient probably on his last breath... :)

i looked around and went to the curly haired lady sitting towards the right, rule number 1 in any government office, is to ensure that you to to the person who has the least number of people in front of them.

So she told me to go down and get the vehicle inspected as the insurance had expired.

i went down to find an older man getting his bike inspected, the chap who inspected must have been a dare devil as he nearly stepped in the path of buses to get photos of the bike.

then came my turn and this chap told me to drive it up to the nearest foot path, must have been afraid after his Near death experiences which missed him by inches.

So i got that part done, and was asked to pay rupees 50!!!!!!!!!, what a highway robbery... :D

can you believe these guys? Oriental Insurance sucks, BTW if you want to get your bike insured try other banks/insurance companies which are much better compared to any government/semi government office. :)

then i went back up and enquired as to whether i could pay via credit card? i got the reply saying No, but you can pay via cheque. So far so good.

the paper hopped to the next desk where i was informed that the cheque amount to be paid was 653 rupees to be precise. While i filled up the cheque leaf, my paper was weighed down by the burden of others like it piled above it... :)

After an agonizing wait of nearly 15 minutes during which i watched as other people who came later than me getting their work done I was called and told to push the paper to the next desk.

In the mean time i met a senior man who was frustrated with the fact that they are charging us 50 bucks for an inspection. i said why dont you write a complaint? he said what is the use? i thought if everyone thinks like this then how will things improve? I made up my mind to write a letter to the Divisional Manager, a manager in absence called Srinivasa... :)

Now i saw 4 or 5 people crowding the next desk, the bald man there showed absolute disgust with every ting around him including the machine and especially the customers in front of him. :) LOL, what exemplary customer service..

While he sipped badam milk from small cup bought to him by the clerk i watched with increasing curiosity as others finished up their work and moved on..

Finally he performed his assigned role: taking a print out and autographing it... :) LOL, he didn't even bother reading what the policy read,(maybe he got 00's of it in a day or 000's...) What a pathetic excuse for customer service.... i Smiled thinking of an Old saying which says "We will see, We Will see" an euphemism for the acceptance of bad customer service in India... Typically represented by the government in a large measure and private enterprises in small measure.

then he gave me the papers, printed in triplicate, which i passed on to another useless piece of paan chewing flesh on the next table, this moustached man dutifully tore 2 copies and deposited one on an envelope. I gave him a sarcastic smile and wished his head would implode. I took the insurance policy, put it in the cover and wrote a letter to the divisional manager mentioning the issues at this office.

It had taken me a whole afternoon to finish this work and frankly i felt disgusted at the end of the whole experience mainly due to the sheer wastage of time which occurs at these places and the wonderful attention given to customer service by most people at government offices. (i have a theory that women work better at government offices, somehow as i have always found them to be more helpful than any man i have met there.., score one for the feminist brigade.. :P :):D) )

End of Post...

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