Hello World, Wasupp?: 2015

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

The Most WTF Questions We Had After Watching ‘Bajirao Mastani’

It is the week after our particular BLACK FRIDAY SALE at the box office—and probably safe to start commenting on all the “What The?” moments on screen without fearing that we may sneak in a spoiler or two.

I watched Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani back-to-back this weekend and lets say a louder, more full colour Technicolor overwhelming weekend I haven’t had in a couple of months. There was much suspense about the alleged competition at the turnstiles this December. However, in any race between Shetty and Bhansali; Bhansali would clearly have an easier time with the critics because, you know, Bhansali... Bhansali Hai.

This reminds me of a gentleman I once knew, who was quite convinced that if you have a Maruti 800 and Mercedes both racing at 80km/hr; the Mercedes would still win, for you know MERECEDES... MERCEDES hai. So even if Shetty and Bhansali play the same visual eye candy, lavish sets and and over wrought Sentiments Express card; we see less hahahas when it comes to BAJIRAO MASTANI, because you know Bhansali... Bhansali Hai.

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Bajirao Mastani will not kill your grey cells as Dilwale may, but for me both film makers have been betting heavily on the pedigree of the thoroughbreds in their stable, and I feel the race results should be read in the same vein.

Now what does BAJIRAO MASTANI have going for it? Of course that it has a lot of heart, ironically more bade dil wala compared to DILWALE and a defiant opening twenty minutes but it soon loses steam. And so I started compiling my list of What The?

So a strapping young man, he is introduced by his colleagues for his track record of 40 not out aise ke Pune Warriors ke asal pinch hitter toh yahi the. But wait, wait, as the movie progresses I realise our good man indulges in some prompt paramedic services too—no one in Bundelkhand is aware of cauterizing wounds you see.

Poor Mastani going to the ved ji, most hearing probably a Nahi , Dettol wali koi chot nahi. Bajirao manages to diagnose, seal and close that wound. But his good work doesn’t end there. Bajirao is also that annoying desi mausi ji who will take one look at the glow on your face and goes “Koi good news?” Here is Mastani thinking “Awesome! This Dove Soap Challenge Is Really Kicking In With That Chehre Ka Nur” for Bajirao to burst that bubble with a “Hey Girl, You Look Pregnant!”

Is there a baby that needs delivering? Yup, Bajirao steps in as midwife too.

DIY Nikah, giving ayuverdic scrub baths, baby ka naamkaran, diplomat and negotiator extraordinaire, warrior, borrowing Rumi’s “There is a field I'll meet you there” as the movie wraps up in typical heavy emotion wala climax Bhansali style; is there anything this man cannot do? Arey, Bajirao ye hain, Bajirao wo hain, hum tou kahein wo purush hi nahi hain... awkward silence..MAHA PURUSH MAHA PURUSH!

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Next we have a fiery warrior princess; but sadly Bhansali is mighty confused whether he sees her as a mighty fine piece of Rajput-Muslim eugenics, a capable swordswoman, a stubborn young, determined person; is she a raqasa who is as much of a killer with a mandolin and fancy footwork as she is with her sword, or someone with a really good eyebrow wali. (Really, who was Mastani’s eyebrow wali. I am betting that sulky sidekick who really wanted to get back to Bundelkhand where the real tips were).

Eid pe theek thak meetha bhi banati hongi. Matlab, how does Bhansali understand Mastani’s character as he flits between one frame of reference and the other. Matlab ye party hain ke broker?

Bajirao Mastani box office collection: Deepika-Ranveer's film crosses Rs 50 crore on first Monday

Bajirao Mastani, which hit the screens on December 18 this year, has entered the Rs 50-crore club within just four days of its release. Despite stiff competition from Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's Dilwale, the Deepika-Ranveer-Priyanka-starrer has passed the first Monday test, emerging a winner at the box office.

The story of Peshwa Bajirao I and his second wife Mastani, Bajirao Mastani has shown tremendous growth at the box office owing to word-of-mouth publicity and generally glowing reviews from critics.

The film opened to Rs 12.80 crore on Friday, had a business of Rs 15.52 crore on Saturday, and packed in a solid Sunday with Rs 18.45 crore at the domestic box office. On its first Monday, Bajirao Mastani earned Rs 10.25 crore in India.

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Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted the figures:

Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale both released on December 18 this year. While the Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol-starrer had a brilliant opening at the box office in India, Bajirao Mastani picked up after the first day. As of its first Monday, Bajirao Mastani has surpassed the collection of Dilwale.

The praise that his latest film, Bajirao Mastani has garnered, comes as a huge relief to this dream merchant of celluloid who admits he can’t think small. The epic scale and vision of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest film has stunned the industry, and he is a happy man as he chats with Firstpost.

Did you expect this kind of acclaim for Bajirao Mastani?

Bhansali: We knew some kind of magic was happening . As the shooting progressed I realized we were doing something that had the blessings of great filmmakers. So yes, we did know we were blessed. How blessed, we are discovering now as people are returning repeatedly to see the film. I am told audiences feel they’re seeing something so special after many years. I am honored.

The era of the plot, tone of the storytelling, texture of music are all alien to today’s audiences. Were you ever apprehensive about the box office outcome?

Bhansali: I’ve lived with the script for 12 long years. Over the years I read it over and over again and continued to be thrilled by it.Every time I read it I realized Bajirao Mastani must be made, it's so powerful a screenplay. I never considered what the budget would be, or that audiences may not connect with the classical flavor. There was no fear of failure when I made Bajirao Mastani. I am a fearless filmmaker.

But surely the box office matters when your budget is Rs 140 crores?
Bhansali: Audiences want to see something interesting. It doesn’t matter which genre or period it belongs to, it is the conviction with which a filmmaker puts across his vision which works. But yes, I did make Bajirao Mastani keeping today’s audiences in mind, the structuring, the lighting were all done for a contemporary audience. I was sure of what I was doing throughout, but yes, there was always a nervousness around me, people asking if today’s audience thinks this way.

What do you see as the central theme of Bajirao Mastani?
Bhansali: The love story between Bajirao and Mastani. Love is universal and we must love the one that we love without barriers of religion. Bajirao was a fierce warrior and he defended his land and people with single-minded devotion. But when it came to love he was supremely secular. Somewhere in my mind the colours saffron and green emerged from my plot and merged in my mind.

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In Bajirao Mastani you have made explicit use of the colours green and saffron to denote the merger of the two communities. Was there no fear of offending fundamentalists?Bhansali: No no, none at all. I feel people believe in love, regardless of the colour of their religion. I feel we co-exist as a community even if there is separatist violence in places. The way audiences have responded to the Hindu-Muslim love story between Bajirao and Mastani proves I am right. It is a victory of secularism. Whatever our religious practice, love has no religion. On the contrary love is a religion of its own.

Was this merger of saffron and green what attracted you to this theme?
Bhansali: Most certainly. Bajirao was one of the most powerful statesmen of India. He believed in protecting and fighting for his land. He won 40 wars, but he lost in love. 350 years down the line I’ve paid a tribute to his love story.

The influence of K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam is very strong on your film?
Bhansali: Oh, completely. My film is a tribute to Mughal-e-Azam. The kind of work Asif Saab did, his imagery and visuals, were very inspiring for me. I am deeply impressed by the works of Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor and V Shantaram. I’ve learnt filmmaking by watching these masters.

But the influence of K Asif is more direct on Bajirao Mastani, in your Aaina Mahal which is Asif’s Sheesh Mahal from Mughal-e-Azam?
Bhansali: Oh yes, and Deepika dancing to Mohe rang de lal is directly inspired by Madhubala’s Mohe panghat pe nandlal ched gayo re in Mughal-e-Azam. Deep inside me there was the fear, what if people compare me poorly? Luckily for me no one has said I’ve made a fool of myself. The story, music, visuals and scenes are all part of the Indian sensibility. Singing dancing celebrating, these are all part of our culture. They’ll never die from our cinema.

Box office report: 'Bajirao Mastani' takes over 'Dilwale', but year end will be the true litmus test

The mega weekend that Bollywood was looking forward to with part excitement and part apprehension has come and gone and Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani have begun week two. As Monday's business was totalled up, it appears that both films have passed with flying colours.

Rohit Shetty's Dilwale, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, is still ahead of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani - but the gap may be closing. Bajirao Mastani, with its all-star cast of Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, appears to have benefitted from the good reviews it was given by most critics and word of mouth. Dilwale, unanimously panned, is still ahead by about Rs 18 crores but a day-to-day comparison shows that Monday saw a 50% dip in ticket sales.

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The Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer Dilwale has had a bigger opening than Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period biopic Bajirao Mastani, and it has continued to rake in more moolah because Shah Rukh Khan reportedly knew the trick.

The advance booking of Dilwale started from Monday of the releasing week, far ahead of Bajirao Mastani. However, the first Monday (after its Friday release) collections are always the litmus test for any film’s acceptability, and this is where it looks like Bajirao Mastani has an edge over Dilwale.

According to trade magazine Box office India (image attached below), on Monday Bajirao Mastani had the net collection of Rs 10.25 crore, whereas Dilwale ended up raking in Rs 10.09 crore.

“Bajirao has overtaken Dilwale,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. He further confirms that Bajirao Mastani has an upper hand now because it has had a very strong word of word of mouth working in its favour.

Trade analysts Komal Nahta seconds Taran Aadarsh, and further adds that the boycotting of screenings of the Dilwale, by right-wing groups in Mumbai have definitely affected their day one collections.

Maybe for a different reason, but Bajirao Mastani too suffered such boycott in Pune. “It was unbelievable and unprecedented; else both the films would have made huge money,” says Nahta.

Amod Mehra is sure that the collection of Bajirao Mastani would see a sharp rise whereas for Dilwale it is likely to slide down in the same proportion. “This weekend, however, will show which film is a hit and which one is a flop. At present, it looks like Bajirao Mastani will sail through and Dilwale won’t work," says Mehra.

News publications have already established that Dilwale has crossed Rs 100 crore, but the fate of the film actually depends on net collection from theatres in India. Going by those figures, Dilwale has made Rs 74.72 crores whereas Bajirao Mastani is lagging behind with Rs 52.20 crores.

Not only in India, even in the US, Bajirao Mastani's collection is higher than Dilwale, according to Komal Nahta tweets:

Amod Mehra made clear that it takes, at least, three weeks to decide whether a film is a hit or flop. Nahta is holding his verdict as well, until the end of this year. “We can’t declare any of them as a hit, not as yet," he says.

Red Chillies Entertainment didn't disclose their Monday figures, so we chose to take our figures from Box Office India Magazine:

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Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh’s Bajirao Mastani, which had a slow start at the box office, has picked up pace over the weekend thanks to the strong and positive word of mouth. Bajirao Mastani’s collections have now registered a jump and is doing much better than Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol’s Dilwale.

Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale, which have been going head strong at the box office, had witnessed a growth in their collections over the weekend, but Monday (December 22) collections have come as a surprise as SRK’s undefeated ‘Dilwale’ has been overpowered by the collections of ‘Bajirao Mastani’. (Read review of Bajirao Mastani )

The collections of ‘Dilwale’ declined by 50 per cent on Monday, whereas ‘Bajirao Mastani’s collections went down by mere 10 – 15 per cent. The figures of ‘Bajirao Mastani’s collections were ahead of Dilwale for the first time on Monday as the movies earned Rs. 10.25 cr and Rs 10.09 cr respectively.

Lenovo A7010 To Launch As Vibe X3 Lite Read

Lenovo's next A-series handset is close to being launched, having been listed on a European e-commerce site recently and in the company's official support page. According to a report in Tech Times, the support page for the handset also indicated that the phone may be launched under another name: Vibe X3 Lite.

With both names A7010 and Vibe X3 Lite listed, this means that Lenovo has two options to choose from when the product launches in a particular region, says the report.

The Lenovo A7010 is considered to be the successor of the A7000, with several upgrades.

The A7010 is equipped with a 5.5 inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. Dolby Atmos speakers are also on the device, a standard among Lenovo's budget devices. It is also said to come with a pair of 1.5 W speakers.

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Under the hood, the device is reported to have an octa-core Mediatek MT6753 processor paired with 2 GB of RAM. Camera-wise, its main rear facing camera will be a 13 megapixel shooter equipped with Phase Detection Auto Focus and a dual-LED flash, while its front facing secondary camera is a 5 megapixel one. Internal storage is pegged at 8 GB, which is expandable to 128 GB via a microSD card.

It offers a wide range of connectivity options such as 4G, A-GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Micro-USB 2.0, making this device attractive enough for the serious smartphone user. Lenovo claims that the device's 3,300 mAh battery can bring 23 hours of talk time and standby time of up to 265 hours. It also comes equipped with several sensors such as gravity, e-compass, ambient light and proximity.

One unique feature of the device is its three microphones which makes the device the best so far in noise cancelling. It will come pre-installed with Android 5.1 Lollipop, but may also be receiving the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update soon, as it is a newly released device.

Since the device is considered a budget device, it is expected to come with an affordable price point. With the Vibe X3 which was released in China and priced at CNY 2,499 (around $386), the Vibe X3 Lite is expected to be priced much lower than the original Vibe X3 model.

The global leader in mobile communications, Lenovo, at the weekend added flavor to the Nigerian smart market with the introduction of VIBE series – the Lenovo VIBE P1m and Lenovo VIBE respectively.

Featuring premium design, powerful processors, full high definition displays and innovative camera technology, the new devices are designed to satisfy the communication needs of the most demanding of consumers.

The Lenovo VIBE S1 is the company’s first dual selfie camera smartphone. The device combines the ability to take creative selfies with a fashionable exterior, with its two front cameras and attractive curved-glass back design.

The device’s 8-megapixel primary camera captures high quality images while the 2-megapixel secondary camera provides detailed information on images and backgrounds so users can re-focus on photographs using editing tools.The smart product also houses a 13-megapixel camera on its rear side.

Other innovative features of the Lenovo VIBE S1 included a 5.0-inch full HD display for an immersive viewing experience, an aluminium frame to give users a firm grip and a 2420 mAh battery that can power the device for close to 11 days in standby mode.
Similarly, the VIBE P1m’s exceptional battery life lets users stay constantly connected, productive and in control.

The device boasts a long-lasting 4000mAh battery, a Quick Charge feature and energy saving software alongside a splash-proof Nano coating that protects it from rain and spills.
It also features a manual power saver switch that instantly extends battery life as well as an OTG (On-The-Go) charging function that lets it charge other USB-connected devices such as Bluetooth headsets and portable speakers.

Equipped with high-performance processors and 4G LTE capabilities, the VIBE P1m not only runs apps and games seamlessly, it also supports blazing-fast connectivity and smooth access to online content.

Executive Director, Mobile Business Group at Lenovo Middle East and Africa (MEA), Shashank Sharma while speaking during the unveiling of the product reiterated the company’s dedication to fast-tracking the growth of Nigeria’s smartphone market by providing consumers with access to its latest mobile devices.

“As lifestyles and everyday habits become more mobile, consumers today are looking for devices that can deliver both performance and long lasting battery life in sleek, stylish designs. These are some of the driving forces behind our new VIBE smartphones that offer faster processing speeds, innovative new features and extended battery life to enhance the mobile experience of even the most demanding users,” he said.

He explained that the Lenovo VIBE P1m and Lenovo VIBE S1 are already available for purchase at accredited dealers in the country.

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In another development, Lenovo also announced that it has gathered hundreds of entries for its ongoing nationwide promotion tagged Lenovo National Promo, just one month after its launch.

Grand prizes at stake in the promotion include a brand new Kia Rio and 10 education grants worth N200,000 each.

The first in the series of the promo’s electronic raffle draws took place at the weekend and saw two winners from different parts of the country emerging as winners of the education grants.

The lucky winners include Mr. Abimbola from Lagos and Mr. Abalu Evarist from Enugu. Names of winners of consolation prizes including blenders, deep freezers and much more were also revealed at the event.

Lenovo thrills smartphone market with VIBE series

Lenovo has been aggressively releasing smartphones this year, specially in the budget segment. One look at the Google smartphone search trends for 2015 shows that more than one Lenovo smartphone made it to the most searched phones list of 2015. Lenovo has certainly come into its own this year in the smartphone segment. Motorola, which is also owned by Lenovo, has been taking care of the high end segment of the market with the Moto X Play and the Moto X Style, and the Moto X Force which is expected to come next month.

So towards the end of the year, Lenovo has decided to release the Vibe S1 which was first launched at IFA in Berlin. The Vibe is becoming a sub-series within the Lenovo smartphone portfolio with three other smartphones – Vibe Shot, Vibe P1 and Vibe P1m also released this year. So here is a detailed review of the Lenovo Vibe S1

If the A-series phones from Lenovo had a very functional and somewhat boring design, the aesthetics on the Lenovo Vibe S1 will certainly take you by surprise, in a pleasant way. The Vibe S1 comes with a curved back design and has a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 cover on the front and rear, along with an aluminum frame. The phone comes in two colour variants – Pearl white and Midnight Blue of which the latter certainly looks more impressive.

The phone has the volume rocker and power/standby buttons on the right hand side, the 3.5mm audio jack is present on the top, on the left hand side you have the dual SIM card slot. This is a hybrid slot, so you can either use two SIM cards or one SIM and microSD card. The micro USB charging and data transfer port is present on the base and is surrounded by speaker grilles section on either side. But one needs to note that there is only one speaker on the right hand side. The rear side just has the camera section located in the top centre with the LED flash unit below it.

The phone measures around 7.8mm thick on its thinner edges and weighs a light 132 grams. The rear side does tend to collect fingerprint smudges and you will need to be constantly cleaning it, specially since it is a reflective surface and smudges are easily visible. Thanks to the 5-inch form factor, one handed use is not so difficult, but you have to be careful as the phone does tend to get slippery.

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Features: 7.5/10

The Lenovo Vibe S1 features a MediaTek MT6752 chipset which houses an octa-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz and a Mali T760 GPU. This is paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage out of which around 25GB is usable space. You can also expand the storage by adding in a microSD card of up to 128GB. The phone runs Android 5.0 Lollipop along with the Lenovo VibeUI running atop it. We will get into the details of the VibeUI in the software section.

The phone comes with a dual nano SIM card slot which is hybrid in nature, so with the second slot you will have to select between a SIM card or expanding storage. In terms of other connectivity options, you have Wi-fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with A-GPS and so on. There is a non-removable 2420mAh battery.

There is a 13MP camera on the rear side and an 8MP camera in the front. Rather there are two front-facing cameras – one 8MP and another 2MP, making this the first phone in the world with a dual front-facing camera. We will talk in detail about this under the camera section.

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Software: 7/10

Lenovo Vibe S1 comes with Lenovo’s proprietary Vibe UI atop the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS. Now Vibe UI is known to be a bit on the heavier side thanks to the pre-loaded apps that come with the phone. But thanks to the MediaTek MT6752 chipset, along with 3GB of RAM, things do run fine. Some of the preloaded apps include ShareIt, SyncIt, CloneIt, Theme Centre, Lenovo Companion, Guvera Music, Navigate and some gaming apps among others. As compared to the boat load of apps we’ve seen with the Asus ZenUI, the VibeUI certainly has more useful apps. You cannot uninstall the Lenovo apps though.

Apple cuts prices of latest iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by up to 16% in India

NEW DELHI: Apple cut prices of its latest iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by up to 16 per cent just two months after their launch in India to boost flagging sales in what is historically its most crucial quarter as demand for the flagship devices nosedived from a Diwali high.

The price of the iPhone 6s 16 GB model, which was introduced at Rs 62,000 on October 16, has fallen by 11-16 per cent and now ranges between Rs 52,000 and Rs 55,000, according to four large retailers who spoke to ET on condition of anonymity. The price cuts are across all variants - 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB — of both models. The average difference in prices of all iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices between launch time and now is about 15 per cent, a top executive at a national retailer said.

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The reduction also narrows the gap with prices of iPhone 6 devices launched in 2014, making an upgrade more attractive for customers. "The price difference between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s was a lot, so many customers are not willing to upgrade to the new model," said a senior executive of another national retailer.

This is the first time that the price of an Apple flagship has been brought down within two months of launch, underlining concerns around the initial pricing, said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Apple declined to comment on the matter.

Apple had introduced the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at Rs 62,000-Rs 92,000, about Rs 8,000-Rs 9,500 more than launch prices of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The models wereRs 14,000-Rs 16,000 costlier than those available in the US, Middle East and Hong Kong, raising concerns that demand would be hurt.

Apple imported almost 320,000 of the latest iPhones in October in India, the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, sparking hopes of its best ever quarter. Shipments have slumped since then and the latest data suggests that imports of the new models fell 62 per cent to 120,000 in November.

The latest price cuts come after Apple iPhone 5s prices were slashed for the third time in three months, now starting at Rs 24,999, almost half its September price.

The price cuts indicate that Apple maybe trying to revive demand in the October-to-December quarter, which has historically been the strongest period for the company due to its flagship launches.

Industry insiders said Apple's distributors are selling the iPhone models at marked-down prices, allowing retailers to offer all models at discounted rates.

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Pathak stressed that the iPhone 5s, launched in 2013, could take the wind out of iPhone 6s sales, given the massive price difference between them.

Analysts said the price cut could re-ignite iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus demand in the coming months. "Now that they have aligned prices, we can see some sales happening in future quarters, which will also sustain Apple in the typically weaker periods of January to September," Pathak added.

Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus prices slashed in India

After the iPhone 5s, Apple has now cut prices for their latest iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by up to 16 percent in India. Currently, the price for the iPhone 6s (16 GB variant) is available between Rs 52,000 and Rs 55,000. The new price tag makes it attractive for customers to purchase the new device as many people were initially reluctant to upgrade to the new model due to the enormous price difference between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s.

The price cuts are applicable across all variants – 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB respectively. According to a report by the Economic Times, Apple had introduced the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at Rs 62,000 – Rs 92,000, about Rs 8,000-Rs 9,500 more than launch prices of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The models wereRs 14,000-Rs 16,000 costlier than those available in the US, Middle East and Hong Kong, raising concerns that demand would be hurt.

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It is believed that the price cut may point out at the fact that the company is trying to revive demand for the October-to-December quarter, which is said to be the ‘strongest period’ for Apple due to its flagship launches in September.

Recently, Apple also slashed the price for its bestseller iPhone 5S in India. The device which had received a price cut a few months ago, has now been reportedly brought down to almost half in the past three months. According to a report by The Times of India, iPhone 5s prices now starts at Rs 24,999, down from Rs 44,500 in September. This makes Indian price of iPhone 5s one of the lowest globally, despite the depreciating rupee and higher import taxes making India among markets where Apple products cost the most.

iPhone 7 specs and features rumors: Will iPhone 7 be last big upgrade from Apple? Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital, has said that the rumored iPhone 7 may be the last smartphone from the Cupertino-based firm to feature significant upgrades.

According to Ives, the iPhone 7 could "be the last hurrah in terms of blockbuster upgrades".

Apple is largely dependent on iPhones for its revenue and rightly so as they accounted for 66 per cent of fiscal fourth-quarter revenue this year, versus 54 per cent in the same quarter a year earlier.

"Apple is clearly challenged to enhance product revenue beyond iPhone," Sullivan said, highlighting the decline in sales of iPad and just good sales products such as Apple Watch, Apple Pay and Apple Music.

The above mentioned three new products are under the "other" category for Apple and they contributed just 4 per cent to total sales in the recently-completed current quarter.

Analysts maintained that the iPhone 7 - rumored to launch in March - may boost sales but the frequent refreshment of the product line with no significant improvements could negatively affect the product value.

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Holger Mueller, principal analyst at Constellation Research said: "Apple has a large exposure to the iPhone and has not been able to come up with other growth engines. The iPads aren't selling and the growth in Macs is limited." (Next year) will be a key year for Apple, when it either can innovate around wearables and TV, or it will have to flirt with lower prices (as it did with iPad last month) in order to keep up volume."

Meanwhile, some leaked details of the iPhone 7 have surfaced and they shows that the design of the new device will be even better than the previous version. Apple is reportedly toying with different prototypes and is currently working with five different prototypes of this phone. The company is yet to decide which prototype will be best for the next level of development.

For Jyoti Singh's parents, mixed emotions as Rajya Sabha passes new law on juvenile justice

Parents of the 16 December gangrape victim on Tuesday welcomed the passage of the long-pending Juvenile Justice Bill saying that it will deter juveniles from committing such crime against women even though they rued that their daughter has been denied justice.

"Although we are satisfied that the amendments have been passed as these will help victims of heinous crime get justice, there is grief that our daughter Jyoti was denied justice. The juvenile convict who was the most brutal was set free despite our repeated pleas and demands," said the mother Asha Devi outside Parliament.

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"This was a good thing that happened. Our efforts at least produced some results. By releasing the juvenile convict in this case, authorities had given out a wrong message but the new law will deter juveniles from committing heinous crimes against women," said the father, Badri Singh Pandey.

The parents watched the proceedings from the visitor's gallery in Rajya Sabha throughout the day as lawmakers debated the bill.

They had met Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the morning seeking their support to ensure that the bill gets passed.

The parents along with hundreds of youths and activists have been protesting at Jantar Mantar and India Gate for the last three days demanding passage of the bill and death penalty for the rest of four convicts in the gangrape case. They were also detained by police for holding demonstrations.

Earlier, during the day, she had appealed to BJP President Amit Shah and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to get the bill passed in the current session of Parliament.

Nobel Peace Laureate and child rights' activist Kailash Satyarthi hailed it as a major legislative reform measure towards holistic child protection and development.

"Whether it's a crime by a child or on a child, the focus has to be on reform and restitution and not just deterrence. Care and protection must be provided to all children up to the age of 18," he said, adding that the protection framework provided under this law is extremely robust.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court had dismissed Maliwal's plea against the release of the juvenile offender, saying "there has to be a clear legislative sanction" in this regard.

Juveniles aged 16 years and above will now be tried under laws for adults for heinous crimes as Parliament on Tuesday passed a much-expected bill in this regard against the backdrop of a juvenile convict being released in the gangrape-cum-murder case of December 2012.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, which provides for lowering the age for trial from 18 years, was passed by Rajya Sabha with a voice vote after a walkout by Left parties which wanted it to be sent to a Select Committee. The bill was passed by Lok Sabha earlier.

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Allaying concerns expressed by members about the implications of the proposed legislation, Gandhi said it was "not against children but rather provides for, protects, nurtures and keeps them safe."

While CPI(M) members led by Sitaram Yechury staged a walkout demanding that the Bill be sent to a Select Committee, most of the other parties including Congress welcomed the passing of the legislation.

The bill was taken up against the backdrop of uproar over release of juvenile convict in the heinous gangrape-cum-murder of a 23-year-old girl on December 16, 2012. Parents of the victim have said that the convict could escape after spending three years in a correction home only because the law is weak.

Parents of the December 16 gangrape victim today welcomed the passage of the long-pending Juvenile Justice Bill saying that it will deter juveniles from committing such crime against women even though they rued that their daughter has been denied justice.

Rajya Sabha passes juvenile justice bill: Who said what during debate .

Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the juvenile justice (amendment) bill, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition to block the release of the juvenile convict in the December 16 Delhi gang rape and parliamentarians cutting across party lines agreed that the important legislation should be taken up immediately..

Under the amended bill, those aged 16 and above will now be tried as adults for heinous crimes like rape. It was passed by a voice vote with Congress support after a walkout by Left parties.

The lowering of the age means that those aged 16 and above will no longer enjoy the protection under the Juvenile Justice law, under which juveniles could not be tried under normal laws of land that provides up to death for rape and murder.

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Under the juvenile law till now, even those accused of heinous offences like rape could be tried only by Juvenile Justice Boards and cannot be jailed for more than three years..

Here is how the different political parties voted on the bill and what the members said during the debate:

Wanted bill to be referred to the select committee. Opposed to lowering of age. Vandana Chavan said, “We are taking the shortest path to seem like we are doing something for women”.

“We have to realise the legal system cannot stand on emotions. It should be on reason. Justice Verma Committee declined to reduce the age. According to me, we really do no need this bill,” she said.

# DMK : Wanted bill to be referred to the select committee. Opposed to lowering of age.

Participating in the debate, party MP Kanimozhi said, “There is really no hurry in doing it. We have to give it enough consideration before passing. It would be really good if Government sends this to a select committee.”

# Centre: Replying to the debate on the bill, Union minister for women and child development, Maneka Gandhi, called the legislation a “nuanced” one and said it was needed to act as “deterrent”.
“Its a very nuanced bill. It does not mean that any 16-yer-old caught committing a heinous crime goes directly to jail. It will be the juvenile board which will decide if the crime was committed with a child like mentality or in a planned way. Only the board will decides if the child will go to jail or a correctional home.... This is not my Bill. Not of the government.

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This is your Bill... This bill was started by you (Congress), finished by us. Nobody would remember I piloted the bill but the fact that the Parliament had cleared the crucial legislation. Think about what you want to do about it,” said the minister.

# Congress: Supported the bill. Leader of the opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the juvenile law was first enacted by the Rajiv Gandhi dispensation. “At the time the cutoff age was 16. This was subsequently raised to 18 during the NDA government is 2000 and now they want to come back to the age that Rajiv Gandhi had set in 1986…….Had the juvenile convict in Nirbhaya case not been released, the government would not have been serious about the JJ Bill.”

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 First Impressions

Xiaomi last month caught some eyeballs when it launched its third-generation Redmi Note smartphone in China, its first device to feature a fingerprint sensor. The Redmi Note 3 is priced at CNY 899 (approximately Rs. 9,500) for 2GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage, and CNY 1099 (approximately Rs. 11,500) for 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage. We recently got our hands on a unit and these are our first impressions.

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The metal-clad, dual-SIM Redmi Note 3 is Xiaomi's latest flagship model, and it certainly lives up to that standard in most areas. The smartphone has a sturdy build, offering just enough grip to prevent it from slipping from your hands. Measuring 150x76x8.65mm, the device has its power button placed in the middle of the right side, making it easy to reach. The volume buttons sit above the power button, while the SIM tray is on the upper left. Of the three colour variants, gold, silver and dark grey, we found the gold version the most eye-catching.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 sports a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920-pixel) screen, which is the same as its predecessor, the Redmi Note 2. Reaching all four corners of the display with a thumb can be difficult, but one-handed typing is possible. The fully laminated display is bright and vibrant, but not any more so than the panels Samsung has been putting out for quite a while now. Although other similarly high-specced devices have gone beyond full-HD, most users shouldn't care as the tradeoff is better battery life. Also, the screen is quite reflective and is difficult to use under direct sunlight.

Under the hood, the Redmi Note 3 packs a 64-bit octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor, clubbed with either 2GB or 3GB of RAM. The processor and RAM team up to handle all day-to-day tasks such as video streaming, document editing, image editing and more without any problem. Our sample unit had 2GB of RAM, and we were able to open around 10 applications including some graphically intensive games, and had no trouble while switching between them and multitasking. Our time with the unit was too limited to arrive at any firm conclusion about how powerful the processor is in different scenarios. Therefore, we will reserve our verdict till we can do a full review. Out of 16GB inbuilt storage, users will get almost 9.5GB for app and other media storage, with rest reserved for the OS.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 camera impressed us with its overall image quality, compared to other smartphones it will compete with. The rear 13-megapixel camera features Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) and a true-tone flash. The pictures we took under artificial lighting were detailed and crisp. The phone was quick to capture both HDR and non-HDR images. The user interface is simplistic but covers almost a quarter of the display with a side panel for the shutter button, gallery shortcut and video mode switch. Users can swipe on the screen to choose filter options that include fisheye, blur, dawn, mono, vivid and mirror, and for other modes such as manual, gradient, HDR, timer, panorama and more. The Redmi Note 3 also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, which we found to be decent in the short time we had to experiment with it.

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The 4G-enabled Redmi Note 3 runs the company's latest MIUI 7 skin based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. The interface has been improved with some new features such as themes, a larger font size, a child mode, claimed 30 percent better response time, and more. Global stable builds of MIUI 7 were released for a number of Xiaomi of devices in October. It is easy to use with straightforward controls. Those who have used previous versions of MIUI should not find it difficult to get around.

The fingerprint sensor placed on the rear is quick to recognise which finger has been used, and unlocks the smartphone in under half a second. Setting it up was also hassle-free. The speaker on the bottom rear is average.

The latest smartphone by Xiaomi is powered by a 4000mAh battery, which is a pretty large capacity compared to recently launched options in the same price bracket. The company claims that the battery can be charged up to 50 percent in an hour, which we will need to test for ourselves.

Mahindra Teases S1O1 for the First Time!

The vehicle is said to be launching next month and will be the part of entry level hatchback space, prices are expected to be in the range between Rs.4 & Rs.7 lacs!

Mahindra has teased its upcoming compact crossover for the first time which is codenamed S101. It is an important product for the automaker as the vehicle will introduce a new family of petrol engines from Mahindra and Mahindra which are co-developed with Ssangyong. The petrol powerplant of the S101 was announced during the launch event of the TUV3OO. Rumor has it, S101 will be christened as KUV100. Moreover, the upcoming Maruti Suzuki Ignis (reported) will directly compete with it.

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Speaking of the design, looking at the teaser image and recent spy shots, S101 features a crossover stance. Mahindra is calling it a ‘new SUV’. The automaker is teasing the front fascia of the vehicle and it features daytime running LEDs along with new sleek Mahindra grille and chubby bumper.

Coming to the new petrol engine, it will be a 1.2-liter unit, most probably a 3-cylinder one and the power is expected to be in the vicinity of 80 PS and torque around 110 Nm. Besides the new petrol, S101 will get the 1.5-liter mHawk engine that debuted with the TUV3OO. Both the engines will be mated to a five-speed manual transmission while 5-speed AMT (Automated-Manual Transmission) from TUV3OO is most likely to be available with it.

Hours after the first teaser image of Mahindra's much-awaited S101 hit the web, a fresh batch of spy shots of the same has now started doing the rounds on the internet, this time showing the front LED DRLs of the model.

Mahindra is all set to announce the details of its new S101 compact SUV in India on 18 January. While the auto aficionados have already got several hints on what the new S101 mini-SUV will look like and what it will have in store to amuse the SUV lovers, here comes yet another set of spy shots of the model from Anything on wheels, who have managed to snap the front LED DRLs of Mahindra S101, probably for the first time. The vehicle was being tested near Mahindra's Chakan facility. Although the next big ticket of Mahindra is popularly known by its codename S101, rumours are rife that the company will call it KUV100.

S101, a sub four meter compact SUV expected to take on the likes of Maruti Suzuki WagonR and Chevrolet Beat, is believed to be the most affordable SUV from the house of Mahindra. The compact SUV is expected to get conventional SUV characteristics with tall stance and rugged front bumper.

The S101 is also expected to feature Mahindra's signature front grille, new head lamp cluster and body cladding. Built on an all-new monocoque platform, S101, inside the cabin, is expected to get a three-spoke multi-function steering wheel, bench-like seats in the front and a touchscreen infotainment system.

To be positioned below the TUV300, S101 is expected to include 1.2-litre diesel and petrol mills under the hood. While the petrol mill is likely to be an all-new engine developed by the company, the diesel mill could be the watered-down version of the 1.5-litre mHawk engine. Both these will be mated to a manual 5 speed transmission, while the option of AMT is also expected to be on offer.

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Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday teased the first image of its upcoming mini SUV, code-named S101, ahead of an official event scheduled to take place on December 18 during which the home-grown automaker is expected to reveal more information on the product. Though the vehicle’s official name will also be revealed at the event, it is speculated to be called Mahindra KUV100 as the company had patented this name earlier this year for one of its upcoming products.

Though the company calls the S101 a ‘compact SUV’, it looks more like a tall-boy hatchback with crossover-ish elements such as plastic cladding around the body. Other elements that will give it a rugged look include roof rails and high ground clearance.

Set to take on the likes of Maruti WagonR, Maruti Celerio and the upcoming Tata Zica, the Mahindra S101’s entry-level variant is likely to be priced below Rs 4 lakh. The S101 could be offered with two engine options – a 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol and a 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder diesel. While the petrol engine is all-new, the diesel is the same that does duty on the TUV300. Besides a 5-speed manual, there could be an automated manual transmission (AMT) as well on offer.

While the product information could be revealed during the event on December 18, the launch is expected to take place sometime in January 2016.

Honda Introduces New Information Platform

Honda launches an intelligent and advanced information platform for customers called the ‘Honda Connect'. The Honda Connect platform comprises of an app for smartphones and a physical device developed by Minda i-connect that will be available for new customers of Honda Jazz, Honda City and Honda CR-V.

In a decidedly tech-savvy move, Honda Cars India Pvt Ltd. (HCIL) has introduced a new information platform for customers called the ‘Honda Connect.’ The wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Japan has developed a platform for advanced connectivity for customers with the car, their family, and Honda. With the Honda Connect platform customers will reportedly be able to make their ownership experience more safe, convenient and enjoyable. The Honda Connect platform comprises of an app for smartphones and a physical device developed by Minda i-connect that will be available for new customers of Honda Jazz, Honda City and Honda CR-V.

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Speaking at the launch, Katsushi Inoue, President and CEO, Honda Cars India, said, “Today technology has become an integrated part of our lives. The development of Honda Connect is part of our mission to create innovations that best suit our customers’ digital-based life styles. This platform offers a value added communications channel that bonds Honda even more closely with our customers.”

The launch of Honda Connect marks the celebration of HCIL’s 20th anniversary of incorporation in which the company has achieved cumulative sales of more than 1 million units.

Honda Connect provides owners with connectivity services which has been divided into three sections: convenience, utility, and safety and security. Convenience to the owners will comprise of service booking, notifications and feedback. The utility option will have various options to maintain records of their car with a manual SOS feature which when enabled will provide the user’s location to friends and family. Lastly the safety and security option - which is available only after installation of the physical device – will allow the smartphone to be linked to the computer of the car thus providing vital information on the health of vehicle, current vehicle location. Moreover, an impact alert function embedded in the device will signal HCIL’s 24x7 call centre with an assistance call to the customer on sensing a sudden impact.

The Honda Connect application is available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play for everyone in the country.

Honda Motor Co is looking at the possibility of building a small car specifically for India, a top company official said on Tuesday, aiming to gain a bigger share in the world's fifth-largest car market. The car would be the first to be developed at Honda's local research centre and will be positioned above small, cheap entry-level models, such as Maruti Suzuki's Alto and Wagon R, Hironao Ito, senior vice president at Honda Genbetsu India, the R&D arm, said. "Some specific model for India is necessary," Ito told Reuters, though he refused to give details on the type of car the company envisaged or its likely launch date.

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India's car market is dominated by Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor Co, which have strong portfolios of locally-developed cars built using parts from domestic suppliers, allowing them to price the vehicles competitively. Honda, whose City model is India's top-selling sedan, had a 7.2 percent share of the passenger vehicle market in the April-November period, industry data showed. It also sells the Amaze compact car, CR-V sport utility vehicle and Jazz hatchback. The study by Honda is likely to lead to the development of a small hatchback that will be produced in India and exported to other markets, according to consultant IHS Automotive associate director Puneet Gupta. IHS expects Honda to launch the vehicle around 2020 and sees production of 150,000 units a year, of which 50,000 will be for export. Development of the platform and engine will be supported by the parent in Japan, but the exterior and interior can be designed and developed locally, said Ito.

Development of the platform and engine will be supported by the parent in Japan, but the exterior and interior can be designed and developed locally, said Ito. Honda's decision to begin the feasibility study was prompted by a shift in car-buying preferences with consumers looking beyond basic, no-frills cars, said Ito. A higher level of localisation also supported the decision. Honda already procures 80 percent of its parts from suppliers based in India. "The market has also shifted to slightly bigger cars," Ito said. "Our strong point is that higher segment, and market growth is matching that."

General Motors India recalls 1.01 lakh units of the Chevrolet Beat

General Motors India has announced a recall of 1,01,597 units of the Chevrolet Beat to replace a faulty clutch pedal lever that could crack with continuous usage. This recall affects only the diesel variant of the Beat made between December 2010 and July 2014. The company has stated that it will check these vehicles and if necessary replace the clutch pedal lever.

General Motors said in a statement, “The company has started voluntarily notifying owners of the Beat Diesel to take their cars to any of Chevrolet’s 248 authorised service centres across India.”

General Motors India Pvt. Ltd will recall as many as 101,597 Beat hatchbacks on safety concerns, the company said on Tuesday.

This is GM’s third largest recall in the country, after the controversial recall of the multi-utility vehicle Tavera in 2013, when it pulled back 114,000 units over problems related to emissions and regulatory standards, and the July recall of 155,000 vehicles that also included some Beat models, besides small car Spark and multi-purpose vehicle Enjoy.

The latest recall involves Beat hatchbacks manufactured between December 2010 and July 2014. “The clutch pedal lever in these units is susceptible to cracking on continued usage,” GM said in a statement. Customers can contact their nearest Chevrolet dealer and schedule an appointment for vehicle inspection and correction.

“It is a serious a reliability issue and speaks volumes about build quality and how manufactures cut costs to keep prices affordable,” said Bertrand D’Souza, editor of Overdrive, an automobile magazine.

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The fault is unlikely to be life-threatening. “If the clutch pedal fails, you can take the gear out into neutral and come to a stop, but then you will not be able to start again,” D’ Souza said.

The 2013 Tavera recall battered GM India’s image. More than 20 executives, including four top managers, were asked to quit as the firm scrambled to resurrect the brand in India.

Indian car makers are becoming proactive about recalls, suggesting that a voluntary code put in place by the industry in 2013 is working and that they have been able to overcome the stigma attached to such exercises in a climate in which companies are seeking to revive sales after a three-year downturn.

The Indian auto industry has recalled as many as 1.3 million vehicles since adopting the voluntary recall code, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, a trade body.

Unlike developed markets such as Europe, Japan and the US, India still has no official recall policy. Typically, an auto maker makes an announcement offering to fix any defects and replace faulty components, but escapes penalties and punishments common in developed markets. The new motor vehicles bill, which has been drafted by the roads ministry and is now in the public domain for debate and feedback, includes provisions for the penalizing of errant vehicle

General Motors India will recall over one lakh units of the Beat Diesel, manufactured between December 2010 and July 2014, to replace faulty clutch pedal lever.

The company said it will inspect and if necessary, replace the clutch pedal lever in 1,01,597 units of Chevrolet Beat Diesel.

"The company has started voluntarily notifying owners of the Beat Diesel to take their cars to any of Chevrolet's 248 authorised service centres across India," General Motors India said in a statement.

The clutch pedal lever in these units is susceptible to cracking on continued usage, it added.

"Quality and care are our highest priorities and we are committed to putting customers at the centre of everything we do. If we foresee a potential issue, we ensure that it is corrected as soon as possible, as part of our complete commitment to customer satisfaction," the company said.

As part of the recall, customers can also contact their nearest Chevrolet dealership and schedule an appointment for vehicle inspection and correction, it added.

The affected vehicles will be repaired free of charge at Chevrolet's authorised service centres across the country.

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In 2013, the company had recalled 1.14 lakh units of its multi-purpose vehicle Chevrolet Tavera, manufactured between 2005 and 2013, to address emissions and specification issues.

Last week Japanese auto major Honda had announced recall of 90,210 units of its sedan City and multi-purpose vehicle Mobilio in India manufactured between December 2013 to July 2015 to replace fuel return pipe.

Earlier, Volkswagen Group had announced a recall of 3,23,700 units across its three brands -- Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen -- in India in relation to the emission test cheating scandal. It was the largest recall of vehicles in India.

Ever since the auto industry body SIAM introduced the voluntary recall policy for safety related issues, automobile manufacturers have been recalling vehicles.

Till now, over 18.04 lakh vehicles have been recalled by various manufacturers in India so far.

The Apple iPhone 5s got a big price cut, but is it still worth it?

Apple launched the iPhone 5s in India back in November 2013. Two years later, its price has now dropped significantly. At Rs. 21,499 officially for the 16GB version, does the iPhone 5s still make a good deal?

Of course, it’s not the latest and greatest version Apple’s smartphone. We’ve already seen four new ones since, the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s and the 6s Plus. At a time when smartphones become irrelevant and outdated quickly, should you be spending money on a two-year-old device?

The best small size phone deal

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Right now, if you’re considering an Android smartphone, you have two options: a small-sized handset that doesn’t perform very well, or a large-sized handset with all the bells and whistles. Seriously, it’s ridiculously difficult to get a small Android smartphone that will give you a great camera, excellent battery life, lag-free performance, and a vibrant high-def screen.

In that aspect, the iPhone 5s is a clear winner. The 4-inch screen and overall thin profile makes this phone eminently pocketable. You’ll never feel like you need two hands to use it, although you can if you want to. And it’s all packaged in Apple’s incredible design and best-in-class materials, so it feels like a premium smartphone.

The best Android comparison in this size and price range is the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Now, that’s a really good phone, but let’s not kid ourselves, it can’t match up to the iPhone 5s on multiple fronts: camera, battery life, and performance.

With the iPhone 5s, we’re talking about hardware that simply isn’t available in any similar-sized Android smartphone in this price range. The 5s has a fingerprint sensor, one of the best cameras out there, and easily lasts all day, especially with iOS 9’s battery-saving features.

Will it get updates and support new apps?

And that’s the other thing: it has iOS 9 and is compatible with most apps. As Android Police shows in this comparison, Apple’s phones support software updates for much longer than Android phones. Even the geriatric iPhone 4s has got iOS 9, so you can expect OS updates for some time given the better hardware on the iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 5s rocks Apple’s A7 chip, which is not only powerful enough for most regular uses but also supports a wider variety of apps than what you’ll find on the iPhone 5. The benefit of the A7 chip is that it’s 64-bit. As iOS progresses, developers are making apps for 64-bit processors, used in all devices from the iPhone 5s onwards. We’ve already come across a few games that don’t support iPhone 5 because of the older 32-bit processor, but are compatible with 64-bit processors; so again, in terms of future compatibility, you’re more likely to be served well with the iPhone 5s.

When it comes to software updates and app support, the Android ecosystem is a joke compared to iOS, so let’s not even get into that debate. You’ll be lucky if any non-flagship phone you buy is supported beyond 18 months, given that’s even Google’s official limit on its Nexus phones.

This isn’t to say that the iPhone 5s is a perfect phone experience. You’ll have to be ready for a few compromises. While it’s smooth and functionality, the 5s isn’t as fast and zippy as the iPhone 6s. The biggest bottleneck you’ll find is in the RAM, which can prove to be insufficient if you’re a power user, especially while browsing several tabs or if you are doing something while having multiple Facebook Messenger conversations (that app really eats up your available resources!).

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You’ll also miss out on some new technologies that could change how iOS apps are designed. For example, pressure-sensitive 3D Touch is available on the 6s, but you won’t get it on the 5s.

The ecosystem of accessories is also going to dwindle as you go forward. Apple has now decided that 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch are the two new device sizes they want to support, so third-party accessory makers will concentrate on making cases, speaker docks, and other devices for those sizes; not on the now-defunct 4-inch size.

Also, remember that the 21,000-rupee-deal is on the base 16GB model. As many have pointed out, that might become too little space very soon, if you don’t back up and clean your drive, or if you install a truckload of games.

Despite these drawbacks, if you want to buy a small-sized smartphone, then the iPhone 5s is the most sensible deal right now. Its excellent performance on all parameters and long-term software support make it a clear winner in this size.

Cyber-Attacks Rise on Apple Devices: Symantec

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Apple devices like iPhone and iPad as these products gain popularity among consumers across the globe, including India, says a report by security solutions firm Symantec.

Besides, 2016 could see more attacks on the iOS platform that has been perceived to be “free from malware” in the past, it added.

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“Apple devices have experienced a surge in popularity in recent years. According to IDC, the company now accounts for 13.5 percent of global smartphone shipments and 7.5 percent of global PC shipments. This increase in usage has not gone unnoticed by attackers. A rising number of threat actors have begun developing specific malware designed to infect devices running OS X or iOS,” Symantec Director Solutions Product Management (Asia Pacific and Japan) Tarun Kaura told PTI.

He added that although the number of threats targeting Apple operating systems remains quite low when compared to the company’s main competitors like Windows and Android, the amount uncovered has grown steadily in recent years.

“In tandem with this, the level of Apple-related malware infections has spiked, particularly in the past 18 months. Should Apple’s popularity continue to grow, it seems likely that these trends will continue in 2016. Apple users should not be complacent about security and change their perception that Apple devices are ‘free from malware’ – this perception opens up opportunities for cybercriminals to take advantage of these users,” he said.

He added that security researchers have also given a greater focus on vulnerabilities in Apple software with a number of high-profile flaws uncovered in the past year. The findings are a part of Symantec’s predictions for 2016.

The number of iOS malware threats discovered to date, though small in number, has begun to increase with seven new threats discovered to date in 2015, up from the previous high of three in 2014.

These threats span from ordinary cybercrime gangs branching out to Apple platforms to high-level attack groups like the Butterfly corporate espionage team that infected OS X computers in targeted organisations, Kaura said.

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Talking about the government and enterprise segments, Kaura said cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) points could also increase.

“We have already seen attacks on infrastructure and in 2016 we can expect this to continue to increase. Motivations for critical infrastructure attacks are both political and criminal, with nations and political organisations operating

cyber-warfare campaigns, and criminals attacking for profit or ransom,” he said.

The industrial IoT is becoming more connected due to requirements and demand for reporting and improved functionality through connectivity with additional services.

“These changes introduce bigger attack surfaces into the more traditionally hard to secure environments,” Kaura said.

Your Wednesday Briefing: Donald Trump, John Kerry, Star Wars

Jeb Bush and other Republican presidential candidates attacked Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night, united against Mr. Trump’s plan to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and arguing over who would be toughest in protecting Americans from terrorist threats.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, first-term senators who are similar in many ways, had their most pointed face-to-face confrontation.

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We’ve fact-checked the debate statements and compiled video highlights.

So, who won? There’s no agreement on a clear victor.

• Watching the Fed.

The Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee is expected to announce today that it will raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade, as the U.S. economy has achieved steady growth and is close to full employment.

The rate is expected to be raised a quarter of a percentage point. The Fed has held the rate near zero for seven years as the pillar of its economic stimulus campaign.

Here’s an unconventional look at what happens when the Fed raises rates.

• Congress reaches a deal.

Republican and Democratic negotiators in the House agreed to a deal late Tuesday night on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the U.S. government through 2016, and on a huge package of tax breaks.

The government also announced that it was extending through Thursday an enrollment period for full-year health insurance, beginning on Jan. 1, under the Affordable Care Act.

• U.S. pushes on Syria and Iraq.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is in Baghdad today to confer with Iraq’s leaders on accelerating the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.

And Secretary of State John Kerry has been trying to find common ground with Russia’s president so that peace talks on Syria can begin in early 2016.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to push efforts to end the conflict in Syria, the State Department said on Wednesday.

While in New York, Kerry will also host a meeting of the International Syria Support Group to discuss "efforts to foster a nationwide ceasefire and parallel political transition negotiations to end the conflict while intensifying the fight" against Islamic State militants, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

On Friday afternoon, Kerry will chair a Security Council meeting that aims to "reinforce efforts to accelerate an end to the conflict, including necessary formal negotiations between representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition," Kirby told reporters in a news briefing.

Kerry held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Moscow this week to pave the way for Friday's meeting of the support group.

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The meeting follows talks in Vienna last month in which the United States, Russia and European and Middle Eastern countries agreed on a plan for a political process in Syria leading to elections within two years.

Kirby said the countries invited for the talks to be held on Friday morning were those that participated in Vienna. They included Iran, another key backer of Assad. Syria did not take part.

The groups in the Riyadh meeting called for an all-inclusive, democratic Syria and said Assad should leave power at the start of a transitional period.

US diplomats hope Friday's talks will lead to a UN Security Council resolution that would provide a UN blessing to the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Syria -- excluding the Islamic State group -- and to direct talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups.

What is Google’s Wi-Fi at 100 railway station project and how will it work

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had first announced about the the company’s free WiFi at railway stations in India when PM Modi had visited the company campus in Mountain View, California in September. Under the project, Google plans to provide free and high-speed Wi-Fi access to railway commuters at over 400 stations in India. Google has partnered with Railtel Corporation to make this project a reality.

How’s the project going to scale out? Which stations will get covered?

According to Google’s announcement today, the first station to get free Wi-Fi under this scheme will be Mumbai Central, where testing has already been carried out. Google’s free Wi-Fi at Mumbai Central goes live by January, 2016. Google plans to make free Wi-Fi live at over 100 stations in India by the end of 2016. The free Wi-Fi scheme will target stations across each railway zone in India.

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At the end of 2016, Google will evaluate the project to see how it will expand the free Wi-Fi scheme further. Google says that preparations are already on in multiple stations to make the project a reality.

So how exactly will Google’s free Wi-Fi work? Why has it partnered with RailTel?

Railtel is the PSU which owns a Pan-India optic fiber network exclusively on railway track. It has laid out over 45,000 kms of optic fibre networks across the country, which Google will utilise for its Wi-Fi.

In this case, Railtel will be the ISP, while Google will provide the Wireless Area Networks (WAN) and will set-up the points of access at platforms. It should be noted that Google’s free WiFi will only work at the platforms and is not meant for the trains.

Will Google have some guidelines, standards for this free public WiFi?

Google says the idea with its free WiFi is to ensure wide coverage and high capacity. According to Google VP for Access and Emerging Markets Marian Croak, the company sees a potential of 10 million users accessing its WiFi each day by the end of 2016 from across these railway stations. And Google wants to make sure that these 10 million users get broadband quality experience when using its Wi-Fi.

For instance, Google will try and ensure that the WiFi railway users who watch videos on the network get at least HD standard streaming. Google will also aim to maintain speed, efficiency across a board of devices.

Will the service always be free? What’s the revenue model here for Google?

Google says that the service will be free to begin with, although it has not yet specified whether it will eventually charge for this WiFi. It should be noted that free WiFi in other public places like airports is free for a limited time period only. On the revenue model, Google hopes that this will be self-sustainable and it will start exploring with different revenue models later on. For now the focus will be on getting the project up and running.

Two of the world’s largest internet companies, Google and Facebook, are fighting for internet supremacy in Indian villages.

On Dec. 16, Google CEO Sundar Pichai—on his first overseas visit as the new head of the search giant—addressed a packed ballroom in Delhi. Dressed in a casual grey shirt and jeans, the Indian Institute of Technology graduate spoke about how India is going to be central to Google’s expansion plans in the coming years.

“Over the next three years, we plan to help more than 300,000 villages across India go online,” Pichai told a gathering of hundreds of journalists and developers in New Delhi.

With this rural push, Google is now on the battlefront with another internet giant, Facebook, to tap one of the largest internet user bases in the world. These firms are fighting it out to increase their usage—and, in turn, revenue—as Asia’s third largest economy offers them unprecedented opportunities.

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“Companies want to improve their top line (revenue) and to drive this growth, new markets will be the key. If you want to have 30-40% growth, then markets like India give you the opportunity to do that,” Ravi Gururaj, chairman of India’s software industry body Nasscom’s product council, told Quartz.

“India is one of the world’s largest untapped markets,” he added. “And unlike China, which is a closed garden wall, India is open. And as India grows, companies will also improve their share of the pie. If you look at the return on investment, India has one of the highest for companies and therefore, it is a smart move to build a massive user base.”

India is forecast to have 426 million users online by June 2016, making it the second biggest in the world, even beating the US. And this despite the internet penetration in the country of 1.2 billion being less than 20%.

Google to invest more in India

Google plans to ramp up engineering operations in the country by hiring more people at its Bengaluru and Hyderabad centres, said Mr. Pichai, who is on his first official visit to India since taking the top job in August.. A new campus will also come up in Hyderabad, he said. .Google has four offices in India with over 1,500 people working on building products, of the 14,000 people globally.

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The company will install 100 railway stations across the country with WiFi, by December 2016 with Mumbai Central station being the first to go live in January, Pichai said. It is a part of the plan to provide free WiFi access at railway stations in the country as announced during Prime Minister’s visit to the headquarters of the search engine giant in September.

India will have the largest user base for Android devices by next year, overtaking the United States, though just a quarter of the Indian telecom user base has smart-phones, Pichai said..India ranks second, after the U.S. in terms of search volumes from mobile phones. It already sees higher volumes of search traffic from India on mobile devices than those from desktops.

To foster developers and content developers, Mr Pichai said Google is announcing a programme to train 2 million developers in the country for which it will partner with 30 universities across India and National Skill Development Corporation. The Indian-born CEO also shared plans to expand Google's rural internet programme for women from pilot to full-scale programme to cover three lakh villages in three years.

Google is ramping up investments in India for development of more local products, building engineering capabilities and setting up a new campus in the country as it aims to bring all Indians online.

India as one of the most important markets, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, “Our focus is on bringing Internet access to everyone, making sure our products are working for them in a meaningful way and then ensure our platform allows them to add their voice to the Internet.”

Hyderabad: Reiterating Google's commitment to the 'City of Pearls', Chennai-born Sundar Pichai, who was appointed Google Inc's CEO this August, on Wednesday announced that the company will be setting up a "huge" facility in Hyderabad.

"Google is looking at hiring people for Bangalore and Hyderabad... We will also build a huge new campus in Hyderabad, to build capabilities," he said in New Delhi.

The proposed facility, spread over two million sq feet, is expected to be the biggest one for Google outside US and it will be the first facility to be owned by the company in India. Google has four offices in India -- at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon and Mumbai -- but all are leased properties.

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In May this year, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was inked by Google's global head (facilities and workplaces) David Radcliffe and Telangana information technology and panchayat raj minister K T Rama Rao at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

The tech giant is expected to pump in Rs 1,000 crore to build this facility, which will lead to creation of over 6,500 additional jobs in the city.

According to the Telangana government officials, the state had allocated 7.2 acres to Google at Gachibowli. "The company will spend about 12 months on planning and construction will start around the summer of 2016.Construction should take about two-and-a-half years and we could have a facility up and running as early as 2019," Radcliffe had said in May.

Star Wars, Disney and myth-making

FROM a galaxy far, far away to a cinema just down the road: “The Force Awakens”, the newest instalment of the Star Wars saga, is inescapable this Christmas. The first Star Wars title since Lucasfilm, the owner of the franchise, was acquired by Disney in 2012 for $4.1 billion, it represents more than just the revival of a beloved science-fiction series. It is the latest example of the way Disney has prospered over the past decade from a series of shrewd acquisitions (see article). Having bought Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, Disney has skilfully capitalised on their intellectual property—and in so doing, cemented its position as the market leader in the industrialisation of mythology. Its success rests on its mastery of the three elements of modern myth-making: tropes, technology and toys.

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Start with the tropes. Disney properties, which include everything from “Thor” to “Toy Story”, draw on well-worn devices of mythic structure to give their stories cultural resonance. Walt Disney himself had an intuitive grasp of the power of fables. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, is an avid student of the work of Joseph Campbell, an American comparative mythologist who outlined the “monomyth” structure in which a hero answers a call, is assisted by a mentor figure, voyages to another world, survives various trials and emerges triumphant. Both film-makers merrily plundered ancient mythology and folklore. The Marvel universe goes even further, directly appropriating chunks of Greco-Roman and Norse mythology. (This makes Disney’s enthusiasm for fierce enforcement of intellectual-property laws, and the seemingly perpetual extension of copyright, somewhat ironic.)

The internal mechanics of myths may not have changed much over the ages, but the technology used to impart them certainly has. That highlights Disney’s second area of expertise. In Homer’s day, legends were passed on in the form of dactylic hexameters; modern myth-makers prefer computer graphics, special effects, 3D projection, surround sound and internet video distribution, among other things. When Disney bought Lucasfilm it did not just acquire the Star Wars franchise; it also gained Industrial Light & Magic, one of the best special-effects houses in the business, whose high-tech wizardry is as vital to Marvel’s Avengers films as it is to the Star Wars epics. And when Disney was left behind by the shift to digital animation, it cannily revitalised its own film-making brand by buying Pixar, a firm as pioneering in its field as Walt Disney had been in hand-drawn animation. Moreover, modern myths come in multiple media formats. The Marvel and Star Wars fantasy universes are chronicled in interlocking films, television series, books, graphic novels and video games. Marvel’s plans are mapped out until the mid-2020s.

But these days myths are also expected to take physical form as toys, merchandise and theme-park rides. This is the third myth-making ingredient. Again, Walt Disney led the way, licensing Mickey Mouse and other characters starting in the 1930s, and opening the original Disneyland park in 1955. Mr Lucas took cinema-related merchandise into a new dimension, accepting a pay cut as director in return for all the merchandising rights to Star Wars—a deal that was to earn him billions. Those rights now belong to Disney, and it is making the most of them: sales of “The Force Awakens” merchandise, from toys to clothing, are expected to be worth up to $5 billion alone in the coming year. In all, more than $32 billion-worth of Star Wars merchandise has been sold since 1977, according to NPD Group, a market-research firm. Even Harry Potter and James Bond are scruffy-looking nerf-herders by comparison.

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Those other franchises are reminders that Disney’s approach is not unique. Other studios are doing their best to imitate its approach. But Disney has some of the most valuable properties and exploits them to their fullest potential. It is particularly good at refreshing and repackaging its franchises to encourage adults to revisit their childhood favourites and, in the process, to introduce them to their own children. This was one reason why Pixar, whose films are known for their cross-generational appeal, was such a natural fit. Now the next generation is being introduced to Star Wars by their nostalgic parents. At the same time, Disney has extended its franchises by adding sub-brands that appeal to particular age groups: children’s television series spun off from Star Wars, for example, or darker, more adult tales from the Marvel universe, such as the “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones” series on Netflix.

What explains the power of all this modern-day mythology? There is more to it than archetypal storytelling, clever technology and powerful marketing. In part, it may fill a void left by the decline of religion in a more secular world. But it also provides an expression for today’s fears. The original “Star Wars” film, in which a band of plucky rebels defeat a technological superpower, was a none-too-subtle inversion of the Vietnam war. The Marvel universe, originally a product of the cold-war era, has adapted well on screen to a post-9/11 world of surveillance and the conspiratorial mistrust of governments, large corporations and the power of technology. In uncertain times, when governments and military might seem unable to keep people safe or stay honest, audiences take comfort in the idea of superheroes who ride to the rescue. Modern myths also have the power to unify people across generations, social groups and cultures, creating frameworks of shared references even as other forms of media consumption become ever more fragmented.

Ultimately, however, these modern myths are so compelling because they tap primordial human urges—for refuge, redemption and harmony. In this respect they are like social-media platforms, which use technology to industrialise social interaction. Similarly, modern myth-making, reliant though it is on new tools and techniques, is really just pushing the same old buttons in stone-age brains. That is something that Walt Disney understood instinctively—and that the company he founded is now exploiting so proficiently.

The Pre-Fab “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

For better and worse, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a work of directorial authorship. J. J. Abrams has long been channelling the spirit of Steven Spielberg, and here he splices the Spielbergian gene into George Lucas’s mythology. That’s not an inherently bad thing—if it’s done by Steven Spielberg. A movie fanatic, Spielberg is himself a master of the graft—especially grafting the mythic memory of the cinema onto a child-like sensibility formed by television.

Abrams stands at an extra remove from the source—one step down from Spielberg’s worship of a world of images to the modern worship of a world of stories. That makes Abrams just the person to plug the newest ready-made pre-fab blocks of quasi-Biblical legend into the template left by Lucas, and Abrams does so with a vigorously responsible enthusiasm joined with a palpable wonder at his contact with the venerated text. The result is a movie that’s awestruck, warmhearted, good-humored—and conspicuously prefabricated, without a jolt of spontaneity or reckless impulse anywhere in its sealed-up universe.

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The setup—and it’s giving almost nothing away to mention it, since it’s outlined in an opening crawl of text—involves the quest for Luke Skywalker, who’s in hiding. The universe is dominated by an evil successor to the Empire, called the First Order, and its overlords are trying to find and kill Luke, who is the last of the Jedi. There is, however, a group working to thwart the First Order, called the Resistance, and its virtuous fighters want to find Luke first, both to save him and to harness the Force to their own cause. Here, too, there’s secret information that gets hidden in a little robot, and there’s the crucial decoding of that information to insure the success of a mission.

The new script, which Abrams co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, brings along a host of new characters who are incarnated by an extraordinary troupe of young actors. Yet these newcomers mirror familiar presences with the eerie air of an eternal return. There’s a gifted pilot (Oscar Isaac); a fiercely martial young woman pursued by villains (Daisy Ridley, a nearly new cinematic presence); an independent-minded soldier on the run (John Boyega); a passionate military mastermind (Adam Driver). All these characters are quickly imprinted with their narrative identities in the course of the action; the movie is nothing if not efficient.

The efficiency, however, is no favor to the actors. Their talent often blazes through the screen, their presences are vital, but the spare rendering of character and the tight mechanism of the plot allow them few chances to shine. Boyega renders a keen declamation of proud anger, and Driver momentarily surpasses the story in a fiery Shakespearean outburst, but for the most part the cast appears mainly as symbols of their own youth, a new generation of cinematic faces transplanted onto the revered corpus of legend. On the other hand, some venerable faces are back as well, attached to familiar characters (if you want to be surprised, don’t click on this IMDb page that names the actors and their roles). Abrams plays the nostalgia factor to the very hilt of his lightsaber, and the stagy entrances with which he reintroduces beloved performers is among the most identifiable elements of his direction.

Abrams is a deft manager who balances tones and plots on the tips of his fingers, but he isn’t a director of images. He beams every gesture and every gag, every sigh and every whoop, to the virtual balcony, and some grand plot twists can be seen coming around the corner. His spectacle and its meticulous design are something to see, but his direction doesn’t shape the elements stylistically—it doesn’t provide anything to look at. The carefully crafted objects and the thoughtfully chosen settings never rise, by means of visual composition, to symbolic significance.

From the start, Abrams confirms the movie’s own identity as a fast-moving action thriller that, like Lucas’s first installment, mixes its frames of reference, combining science fiction and Westerns, “Lawrence of Arabia” and prehistoric fantasies. Abrams brings the blend up to date with a whiff of Gothic medievalism and a touch of dystopian adolescent survivalism. But the director seems to resist allowing any of the elements to depart from the confines of the action to take on free-floating, loose-ended cinematic identities of their own—no thought is meant to escape from the airtight channel of meaning.

This taut calculation of emotional effect has a specific and unfortunate impact on the viewing experience. The movie is fast-moving—featuring rapid action within the frame, rapid camera movements, and rapid cutting from shot to shot—yet it feels sluggish throughout, because the speed of thought is slow. Abrams delivers exactly what he wants to deliver, no more and no less. There’s no element of mystery, nothing to capture the eye or pique the mind (whether in active thought or subconscious resonance) between packets of plot information, jolts of martial energy, and waves of sentiment.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a good movie—one that’s good with a star-sized asterisk. The craft with which the plot is constructed is a model of emotional science (even if, at crucial times, events follow each other with mere chronology and no inner necessity) and the artistry that went into the vertiginous digital effects concentrates a host of skills that, when put together, still fall short of art. This work of stunning, shock-and-awe digital contrivance is so weighed down by reverence for the franchise and calculation of effect that it plays less like an experience than like a summary of itself. Its intentions and its realizations are so closely matched that it can as well be viewed in capsule form. Even the mightiest of catastrophes and most clamorous of battles never reach the actual thrill of experience; they stand outside themselves and await the feedback of admiration, like the cinematic equivalent of a flashing applause sign.

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The reason to describe the plot in only the hedgiest and dodgiest of terms isn’t so much to avoid spoilers as to avoid giving away the only thing the movie’s got. I wouldn’t have wanted to know the great twists of “Psycho” before seeing it for the first time, but, even after having once seen it and knowing all of the script’s tricks, the pleasure of watching it again (and again and again) is nonetheless undiminished, and possibly even enriched. The hearty sentiment and the breathlessly clever plotting of “The Force Awakens” are delights, but narrowly limited delights. There’s pleasure within measure, but no uninhibited joy or terror, no ecstasy, no unmanaged passion. The secrets of the movie are the secrets of its plot; the mysteries are purely narrative, not at all visual, symbolic, metaphorical, or experiential. Nothing of the true force of the cinema.