Almamaterstore.in Review

How I braved Alma Mater and wrote this review!!!

Ratings: 1/5

The online shopping portal Alma Mater Store (almamaterstore.in) was an unknown name to me till I read a novel ‘ How I braved Anu Aunty and Co-founded Million Dollar Company ’. While reading that novel I got really impressed by their dedication and concept so thought of giving it a chance.

Alma Mater Concept

In gist, Alma Mater Store prints customized t-shirts, hoodies etc. for a group of people . There is nothing new in customized t-shirts as I was using it in my school 20 years back. Alma Mater is also not the pioneer in online customization as already many stores are there. They just tried to market and sell that old concept in new bottle of online shopping portal.

They offer round neck tees, collared tees and hoodies. They offer customization for minimum 10 quantities. Their price too vary though very minutely, if the order is larger than 25.

Design

While enquiring about the costing they mentioned very proudly that their cost includes complete design services. I was in high hopes when I gave them the text to be printed on the tees. I was expecting something interesting and innovative from their end; instead they just mailed me the text in the same font typed on images of different colored tees. I was shocked by that and just asked them to modify it a little and make it italicized. If that is what they call designing, I bet a 5-year old can design better .

Payment

As per their conditions 50% payment has to be done in advance for order confirmation. They send me a link to make payments. That link was very ordinary and unprofessional . While entering organization name I was using a symbol in it and the payment was not processing and showing that ‘The page cannot be found’. There was no mention that I need not to enter symbols in my address. I randomly tried and finally was able to make successful payment. Amazingly there was no auto confirmation mail from Alma Mater or PayU-their payment partner. Means I cannot prove that I have made any payments to Alma Mater.

Delivery

This was the worst part of the whole interaction with them . While confirming order, they clearly mentioned that delivery will be done in 12-15 days. I made payments on March 1 and was expecting delivery by March 15 that was way ahead of a program to be held on March 26 (actually I ordered tees for an official occasion to be held on March 26). I got a call from them on March 14 that the order is ready and they need Form 50 to send it to my place. I got irritated as these things to be told in advance so that I could get time to arrange these official papers. Anyhow I mailed them the required form by next day morning and they informed me that my order is shipped by Bluedart.

I asked them the tracking details but they didn’t respond (calls and mails) for five days . Finally I got in touch with them and was informed that a certain form was not generated and so the material was not shipped. Finally the material was shipped on March 22 and was intimated to me on March 23. The material was received (or I should say, picked up by me from the courier office as they were to deliver it the next day) on March 26- just few hours before the event.

It is mentioned on their website that they use Aramex for delivery and on my request they told me to ship it by Bluedart. Then I got a call that there is some problem with Bluedart and they are shipping it by First Flight. Finally it was shipped by DTDC. Do I need to comment now on Alma Mater regarding delivery policies?

Customer Support

Let me explain my experiences with customer support incident wise.
1. Till the order was placed, customer support was regularly mailing me after every other day. In the words of Varun Agrawal (co-founder of Alma Mater), they were shamelessly advertising themselves and following me. They were very quick in responding and reacting.
2. Once the order was placed and when I really need the customer support, they were not there . I mailed them regularly for 8 days to get the shipment tracking details and no one responded.
3. I called them to get the tracking number and was given assurance of call back in 5mins which they didn’t do in even 5 days.
4. There is rarely a mention of concerned person or contact number in their email communication so you are always in blind that with whom you are communicating.
5. Even when I informed them that I have already read the novel by their co-founder, they didn’t stop themselves from sending me one whole paragraph at the bottom of every mail advertising that novel.
6. When the material was shipped by them, there was no follow up call from their side. I was expecting that because the delivery was delayed by 11days by them.
7. I asked them to make the invoice in the name of “ABC” and they mailed me the invoice in the name of “ABC” (commas included :P). It was one of the shocking experiences with Alma Mater that either they are ignorant or hardcore copycats.

Product

I was really irritated by their service and was hoping that their product would lighten my mood. But that didn’t happen and I am not at all satisfied by their product. It is made up of very ordinary material and the fitting is also not upto the mark . And the worst thing was that the size varied with color. I ordered 3 colored tees- blue, yellow & gray. Yellow ’L’ size was similar to ’XL’ of other two colors (there was difference of 1.5inches in the length). It was clearly visible in the stitching and the tag that these were manufactured by different manufacturers. For me it was the fault of their quality team that they couldn’t maintain the uniformity in their product line .

I was having high hopes with their screen printing but that was the biggest let down. The print was bleeding and there was no sharpness in it . The back of the tees has large text printed on it that looks very unclean and shabby. It is not at all looking professional. I gave them a text in small letters to print on tees front and on most of the tees it is not legible as the ink bleeding overlaps nearby letters. If this is the problem with their print quality then their design team should choose a font and size in such a way so that the bleeding doesn’t affect the legibility. It seems that there is no coordination between various departments of Alma Mater.

My words

It was my first attempt with bulk customization and everything went haywire. I know that this portal is in nascent stage but this is the right time when they need to attract and retain their customers. Customization is not a necessity or requirement but they have to make it so easy that people got attracted towards it.

Writing a novel is really an innovative marketing strategy and I came to know about Alma Mater because of that novel only. Good that they have marketed themselves but what about delivering the expectations of their customers . It is to be noted that while customizing you don’t need to sell a tees or hoodies but you have to sell an experience to your customers- a lifelong experience that forced them to come back again and again. Facebook or novel is ok but nothing can beat word-of-mouth publicity . People at Alma Mater may take it as negative review but I am sharing it as a feedback.

Sony VAIO SVE15115EN review

Beauty with brains

My ratings: 3.5/5

 

I used HCL laptop satisfactorily for 4 years and it was still working ok till I decided to purchase a new laptop. It was really a big task to choose a laptop among so many brands and their models. I started out with a basic requirement list.

Requirements

1.       Processor- Intel i3. Though i5 was in market but I decided against it as I use my laptop only for multimedia and browsing. Also, i5 is known for huge battery consumption.

2.       RAM- Minimum 4GB.

3.       Storage capacity- Minimum 500GB. I already have 1TB external hard drive and another netbook with 500GB capacity so storage was not much concern.

4.       Ports- Minimum 1 USB 3.0 port along with all the usual ports. Since my external hard disk was USB3.0 compatible so I want to optimize the performance.

5.       Looks and color- I wanted something that looks attractive and is in white color. The color choice was absurd but I am infatuated towards white colored gadgets.

6.       Screen size- 15inch. The portability was not of much priority as I already own a netbook of 11.6in. I wanted a big screen so as to enjoy the downloaded movies.

7.       Audio quality and loudness- It became a priority because I faced lots of problems in my last HCL laptop due to its very low sound quality.

8.       Pricing- With in 40k.

With these basic requirements in mind, I searched extensively and finally zeroed on Sony Vaio E series SVE15115EN laptop. Even though it was providing less battery backup when compared to similar products in market but I was bitten by its looks and also all my basic requirements were getting satisfied.

Specifications

·         Intel Core i3 processor, HM76 chipset, 2.4GHz speed

·         4GB DDR3 RAM, expandable upto 8GB

·         500GB SATA HDD, 5400rpm

·         Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit OS

·         1GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M graphics processor

·         1.3MP webcam

·         Intel high definition audio chip with xLoud feature

·         Bluetooth 4.0, Wireless b/g/n

·         1 USB3.0, 3 USB 2.0, HDMI, LAN, VGA

i3 vs. i5

It is always a big issue while choosing a processor for our computers. We have a tendency to go with the latest release in the market; sometimes we don’t even require that. In case of Intel Core processors, there are three types of processors: i3, i5 & i7. I would like to share basic differences between these types so that it would be easy to take decisions’. Simply speaking, i7 is better than i5, which in turn better than i3. These numbers have no relevance with cores but are simply indicative of their relative processing powers.

Let us start with cache memory that provides quick access to those entities that are frequently needed by the user.  i3 has 3MB cache memory storage, i5 has a 6MB and i7 has 8MB storage. A 3MB cache memory is sufficient to provide high definition video and good quality gaming of low end to moderate animated video game content. Whereas higher cache of 6 or 8MB is preferred for those into designing high end games or is into architectural design part. 

Let us discuss in term of hyper threading that enables single core to serve multiple threads. It is to be noted that only one thread can be served by one core at a time. So if a CPU is a dual core, then supposedly only two threads can be served simultaneously. Core i3 & i7 supports hyper-threading whereas Core i5 doesn’t.

This makes i3 a perfect solution for sophisticated home computing which includes quality audio-visual effects, programming and frequent internet access.

Style

This laptop has a unique wrap design with curvy edges and matt finish body. It has isolated type keyboard having 103 keys. I don’t know that why manufacturers have started including numeric keypad in laptops though it is not required as such. This additional numeric keypad have also increased the screen size from 15in to 15.5in and this increment is felt in length of the laptop (width is still the same). There is ample space between the keys and the wide palm rest area provides speedy and accurate touch-typing. The smooth-surfaced touchpad is attractive and it handles multi-touch controls such as pinch to zoom, two fingered scrolling and rotation. The scrolling is very smooth but sometimes didn’t work well on edges.

It has 15.5-inch LED-backlit TFT color display having HD resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels with 16:9 aspect ratios and is a real pleasure when watching movies on it. The top panel sports the VAIO logo in silver that is embossed on the middle of the lid.

Features & Performance

This VAIO notebook is built on Intel HM76 Express Chipset and is capable to give you superfast performance. It runs on Intel 2nd Generation Core i3 2370M processor, which has 2.40 GHz clock speed and 3 MB cache memory.

It has 4 GB DDR3 RAM that is expandable up to 8 GB. In the near future there is no need for increment in RAM size but can be considered later on. The storage capacity is 500 GB with a speed of 5400 RPM.  This notebook is equipped with AMD Radeon HD 7650M graphic processorto offer superb gaming experience and immersive entertainment with maximum energy efficiency. The GPU has a dedicated 1 GB DDR3 graphic memory and is equipped with AMD Eyefinity technology that delivers better graphics and amazing performance.

It comes with stereo speakers powered by Intel High Definition Audio chip. Also, it is equipped with Sony proprietary Clear Phase and xLOUD sound technologies to boost the audio performance to produce crystal clear sound. It is equipped with 1.31 megapixel HD web-camera, which is powered by Exmor.

There are three USB2.0 ports on one side of the device and one USB3.0 on other side. There are other standard ports for VGA and Ethernet. There is one HDMI port that will let you to play multimedia on large screen digital television or home theater system.  There is faster Bluetooth 4.0 to enable swift wireless data transfer with minimum power consumption.

It is loaded with Lithium-ion battery to give a backup time up to 2.5 hours. The Rapid Wake + Eco feature boots up the system faster. Bundled with utility software like VAIO Control Center, VAIO Gesture Control, WebCam Companion, Magic-i and VAIO 3D Portal, this affordable Sony notebook is a ready to use product.

The notebook comes with preloaded Windows 7 Home Basic. I have upgraded the OS to Windows 8 at a very reasonable price of Rs.699 under their promotional scheme. The Windows 8 have further enhanced the performance of this notebook and the boot up time has reduced to less than a minute. I have no complaints regarding the performance slogging of it. It is buttery smooth experience as per my expectations. 

Positives

1.       Wakeup speed of laptop is very fast that is further enhanced after upgrading OS to newly launched Windows 8.

2.       Multi-touch touchpad makes life simpler with two-finger page scrolling, image flipping, pinch-to-zoom etc.

3.       If you fond of gadget appearances, you will surely be mesmerized by its looks. It is better to try white color but you have to maintain it a lot.

4.       Unused RAM slot that may be used to increase the RAM from 4GB to 8GB.

5.       1GB AMD Radeon graphics card that will surely satisfy the gamers in you. 

6.       High quality sound by Sony’s proprietary “xLoud” and “Clear Phase” technology.

Negatives

1.       Comparatively low battery backup of only 2.5hrs.

2.       DVD tray is very irresolutely attached to the notebook and feels that it may detach at any time.

3.       All the three USB2.0 ports are on the same side with very little gap between each other. It creates problem when using two large sized USB devices.

4.       There is no need of numeric keypad. It unnecessarily stretches the size of screen.

5.       Many of the VAIO proprietary software don’t work on Windows 8. Sony is yet to launch the updated versions.

Pricing

I purchased it for Rs.38k last year but prices have reduced now and it is available in the range of Rs.36k.

Samsung Galaxy Grand Review

                                                    GRAND experience of GALAXY

My Ratings: 4/5

Large things attract me and when Galaxy Note was launched I decided to go for it but anyhow I decided in favour of iPhone 4S at that time. When Galaxy Grand was launched, it keeps tempting me from the day-1 and when I experienced in a mobile store I decided to go for it. I am using it for two weeks and want to share my views on this Grand creation of Samsung.

Features

1.2GHz Dual Core Processor

Android v4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS

5-inch Capacitive Touchscreen

8 MP Primary Camera & 2 MP Secondary Camera

Full HD Recording

Expandable Storage Capacity of 64 GB

Multi Window

Dual Standby SIM (GSM + GSM)

Display: This is the most talked about negative of this phone as many people are cynical about it. The 5-inch display has a 480x800 pixel resolution & pixel density of 187 ppi.  I suggest that you don’t go by figures and better practically experience it.  No doubt, S3 or Note has better and crispier displays but considering the Grand’s price the screen is not bad. It has good quality LCD with very good viewing angles. Pixilation is almost non-existent unless viewed at a ridiculously close range and that too after pinch zooming. Obviously text-readability cannot be compared with AMOLED or Retina Displays but overall experience is acceptable. Also, the low resolution provides better battery backup.

Speed: It has 1.2GHz Dual Core Processor & 1GB RAM out of which 500MB is available to user which is sufficient for browsing, gaming and general use. Applications open at lightning speed. Even after loading a lot of apps, I did not find the performance drop at any level.

Dual SIM performance: It is to be noted that only one SIM is 3G enabled (SIM1) and you have the liberty to choose SIM while making calls, browsing or messaging. But there is big catch regarding “ALWAYS ON” feature advertised by Samsung. It is not a feature but simply calls forwarding & call waiting combination provided by network operators at your cost.

Camera: The phone has 8MP primary camera with LED and 2MP front camera. The primary camera is capable of full HD video recording at 30fps. The phone offers various features such as Panorama, Face detection, Flash, Exposure value, Scene mode, ISO, White balance and so on. The best thing I liked about the camera is its speed, it even surpasses my iPhone. Many times I have to reconfirm in gallery to check that whether pic has been clicked or not. It would have been better if a physical camera button was provided considering the large screen size.

Sound: The speaker sound & call quality is acceptable though I never get the personal satisfaction while on call, may be because of over-satisfaction from my iPhone. The loudspeaker output is loud, crisp and clear. The headphone provided offers really great sound output with noticeable beats.

Video:It is a real blast with really smooth experience. I think Samsung has put in all their experience with S2 and S3 and bridged it here.

Keypad: The keypad is very comfortable to type but still far behind the 3.5in iPhone keypad experience. The best part of it is QWERTY keypad layout with the numbers 0 to 9 above it for easy access. It also supports gesture recognition that performs quite accurately. It also have inbuilt SWYPE feature but that didn’t worked well with me when compared to the accuracy of my Nokia N8.

Sensors: This is the biggest plus point of this phone as I was not expecting so much sensor-rich features at this price range. I am still way back in getting used to these sensors. There is motion control almost for all the things like unlocking, camera, screenshot, music play/pause, calling etc.

Multi-Window feature: It is a much talked about and advertised feature. It lets you to work on two screens simultaneously but you cannot choose any application of your choice to work in twin mode. In normal usage it is a useless feature and in last two weeks I have never used it once. In this feature you have got a floating keyboard that can be placed anywhere on the screen and is quite impressive.

Software/ UI: This phone has many features similar to Note and S2/S3 such as Multi Window, Facebook Lock Ticker, Contextual Menu and Tag, Page Buddy and Sound Balance amongst others.  Contextual Menu lets you choose to view the most frequently used ones first. Contextual Tag lets you tag the weather, date and place immediately when you take a picture on the phone. With Page Buddy, your phone will smartly predict what you intend to do according to your actions. Facebook Lock Ticker allows quick access to your Facebook News Feeds on your lock screen. Sound Balance allows you to adjust the balance of volume on each side of the earphones. There are other inbuilt proprietary apps & features from Samsung like Smart Stay, S Planner, S Memo, S Voice, S Suggest, Chat On, Games Hub and myServices.  It has Android Jelly Bean out of the box which is the latest OS in the market.

Battery: The phone has 2100mAh that is capable of powering your device for extended periods of time. The battery usually lasts throughout the day with light to moderate usage of Wi-Fi, music, calling etc. In idle mode the battery lasts for more than 2days. Android is known for battery killer so its performance is sufficient for me.

What is new in Jelly Bean?

1.       Offline voice: In previous versions voice commands were interpreted using servers but now this feature is provided inbuilt resulting in faster voice search.

2.       Google Now: A feature rich app from Google to combine information about your work habits, appointments, location, and more. Though it is not much useful for a normal Indian like me.

3.       Richer notifications: Notifications can now be expanded or collapsed and can be pictures, lists, or whole paragraphs etc.  

4.       Home screen widgets: When you drag a widget to the home screen, other widgets will move out of the way, or the one you are dragging will resize itself to fit.

Pros

1.       1.2 GHz Dual core & 1 GB RAM

2.       Sensor-rich features

3.       Faster and newer Android Jelly Bean

4.       5" display with good clarity and colour rendition

5.       Video zooming while playing videos

6.       Multi window feature

7.       Good build quality

8.       Two back covers-one with the flip cover and one without

Cons

1.       Low capacity battery considering the size

2.       Flip Cover is looks fine but not a magnetic cover to switch off / on the display automatically when closed / open.

3.       Glossy finish that attracts fingerprints

Micromax Canvas HD A110 vs. Galaxy Grand

I have read lot of views comparing this phone to Micromax Canvas HD A110 so would like to clarify the doubts regarding that.

1.       Canvas has Mediatek's first ever Quad core processor. Mediatek is a company which makes cores for all cheap Chinese mobiles.

2.       Canvas has only 3 motion sensors when compared to 10 of Grand.

3.       Samsung provides regular software updates and has vast network of service centres.

4.       Grand has better and smart TouchWiz UI.

My views

1.       Best in its category: This is the best dual-SIM smartphone in the market available at reasonable price. Low resolution does not make a difference to someone who has moved on from a lower-end phone.

2.       Smooth performance: The phone has no lag in performance, scrolling or touch response. It is perfect for heavy usage.

3.       Sturdy build: It is in line with S2, S3 & note. Though it is glossy plastic but looks attractive.   However, it does not have a corning gorilla glass so be careful with the screen.

4.       The multi window facility is good. However, I haven't used too much. Not too exciting.

5.       I love the flexibility provided in choosing variety of fonts.

6.       The charging cable is the same as data cable which can be fixed to a supplied USB adapter. Hence, the cable is quite small for a charging.

7.       Nice headphones: The headphone is very comfortable with good bass and does not hurt the ears.

8.       If you do not require a dual-SIM phone, better go for other better options.