| | | Good Morning! Just how important is the camera (or two, or three?) in a phone, for you? Would you outright reject a phone if the camera specs (these partly define the potential; optical hardware can only do so much) aren't matching a rival? How do you define what is a good camera for you? Hard to convince me otherwise, a 12-megapixel camera on an Apple iPhone is what I'd pick (and have been doing so for years). It still has no discernible disadvantage for most photography scenarios, when compared with 50-megapixel of 108-megapixel snappers. Really, how would you define a good phone camera? The thing is (it is a tough pill to swallow), you aren't the only one struggling for an answer right about now. Phone makers, the ones you task (with your money, of course) to deliver you with the best camera possible, don't exactly know how to go about it either. Not really a bad thing, because that means they're experimenting. One way to do it is asking the folks who've been doing the photography bit for years – the camera giants and the optics experts. But does it really help? Isn't it a bit like saying the technology learnings from Formula 1 racing help make road cars better? It may, in theory, but the scope may likely be very limited (also the cars that absorb the cutting-edge education; they tend to be quite expensive). Read: Xiaomi and Leica write the latest chapter of smartphone camera chronicles Xiaomi reaching out to camera makers Leica isn't exactly the first move of its kind. Oppo and OnePlus are doing it too (with some fairly work-in-progress sort of results). So do Nokia (these are the folks who started it all, many years ago, with the Zeiss partnership). The expectation is for guidance on colour tuning, extracting the maximum details from photos, optimizing the image processing to better use the data from each megapixel and well (this has to be, isn't it?) as some filters and photography modes that you may or may not use. Yet, at the same time (and this should get your attention), you have Samsung who does everything in-house. The largest Android phone makers globally. The makers of arguably the most expensive Android phones too (the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 come to mind). The Galaxy S22 Ultra, in particular, is one of the best cameras in the Android smartphone ecosystem. Then you have the example of Google's Pixel phones – the focus is purely on using software and AI to derive the best possible photos and videos, without getting into the megapixel race. They've been doing it for years, the benefits of which are also visible in the editing tools integrated within the Google Photos app for all Android phones. That's the reason why I asked you earlier – how do you define what is a good camera phone? There are three very different approaches to smartphone cameras. First, megapixels aren't the only thing (Apple and Google). Second, more megapixels the better (Samsung and many others) and an overlapping third, which gets a photography giant on board (OnePlus, Oppo, Sony and now Xiaomi). All have their marketing spiel. You need to trust your eyes. Whichever photo result looks best to you (don't bother about megapixels or number of cameras), should automatically decide which camera in a phone should be your pick. It is as simple as that. | | | | FAMILIARITY? If you are using an Android phone and have the Flipkart app installed, you'd want to update it now. It is after many years that the Flipkart app is getting a new interface. Good thing? From what I have witnessed closely over the years, familiarity (and continuity) with any tech interface is essential, particularly for a certain age demographic (they don't want the complication of the wheel being reinvented). Even the slightest deviation from where they are used to finding things as a habit within their preferred apps (or it is a matter of simply getting used to it?), and things go awry. At least for a few days. Banking apps, grocery and food delivery apps and shopping platform largely fall in the category where consistency of access is important. How will a new Flipkart app fare? That's what I asked Bharath Ram, who is the Vice-President, User Activation and Retention at Flipkart – how much of a tightrope were they walking, with this redesign? He says the entire pursuit of redesign of the app-front is to standardize the muscle memory over time. It makes sense, with shopping + groceries as the new pitch. A lot of the options which were earlier scattered all around (the cart, hamburger menu, categories, notifications, those SuperCoins too – if you have figured out how they work) have been put in one place (that's the bottom navigation bar) while the app front now has two main tabs, the second being for groceries. It isn't hard to understand the thought process behind pushing Groceries on a level pegging with the larger shopping website. Competition is tough, and there's definitely a market which still hasn't consolidated into the loyalist stage – you've BlinkIt, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket (and their plethora of apps) and Dunzo to name a few. No surprise Flipkart wants to get in on the action – they have a footprint in more than 1800 cities across the country. Next up, 10-minute delivery promises? | | | | GEEKY 2015 called, wants its car back! There no longer remains just suspicion. New-gen cars are smart. You can power on the engine and the AC a few minutes before you step out on a warm summer's day. They can recognize traffic signs and warn you about speed limits and school zones. Voice assistants you can simply call out to, with demands. Geofence your car if you've given it to a valet at a hotel. Glitzy touchscreens all around a futuristic cabin, compete (mostly) with a sunroof. Read (Premium): Auto update: Is your car smarter than you know? The thing, cars around the Rs 7 lakh price point (that's the ballpark for hatchbacks and small crossovers) now get heads-up displays (the new Maruti Baleno), wireless chargers and air purifier (Hyundai i20 hatchback) as well as connected car tech (Tata, Maruti and Hyundai have these platforms) which syncs with your smartphone for the coolness of remote management. That has to be the most important change over the last couple of years – smarter tech is becoming more common in affordable cars. Within this, what stands out for me are three very unique elements of tech. Tata Motor's iRA system (apart from intrusion alerts, remote controls for locks and AC, etc.) has a vernacular voice assistant by Indian startup Mihup Communication as well as the What3words navigation method (developed by UK based What3words Limited) which assigns a unique 3-word address for every location on earth. Then, there's the Amazon Alexa integration which is still exclusive to Mahindra's XUV700 – how cool would it be to talk to the same voice assistant you may also have in your home (and perhaps your smartphone too). Third, and this came after a long wait for regulatory approvals in India, the radar-based driver assistance systems (cars around the Rs 15 lakh price point: MG Astor being an example). Don't think of these as replacing the driver. No, these cars don't (and should not be attempted either) drive on their own, but it's a safety layer that steps in at times – if you're drifting lanes and don't notice a car already there, over speeding or the driver may be inattentive. What is the next tech infusion you'd like to see in cars? Or is this where we should stop and not turn our cars into smartphones, where the arguments are done on spec sheets? | | | | PLAY Netflix is on a roll. With gaming. The only thing is, cats on Netflix gaming will not have the good time that cats on Instagram tend to have (Read the happy news here). On a game addition spree, Netflix has added Dragon Up, Moonlighter and Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt this week (check them out if you haven't already). The seriousness of the efforts are proved by the fact that these games are for now, exclusive for mobile platforms within the Netflix app. And coming before the end of May is Exploding Kittens - The Game. This particular one is based on a popular card game, and it'll be different from the game you can find on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store instead. That will now take Netflix's gaming effort to a grand total of 22 gaming titles available – that's not bad progress for an initiative that rolled out in early November (first on Android, followed by iOS a few days later). The question is, and it may be too early to answer this – can gaming save Netflix at a time when the streaming platform is having a rough time of it with cancelled subscriptions piling up and shared passwords from those who continue to pay? | Please share your feedback with us What do you think about this newsletter? | | | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? 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