Smartbuy issue dated February 2, 2011

SmartbuyWednesday, February 2, 2011

G A D G E T S | A U T O | L U X U R Y www.blsmartbuy.com

Business Line

Suzuki Kizashi Driving Maruti’s first luxury sedanPage 7

Samsung ST600 reviewedBlackBerry Bold 9780 tested+

2 February 2, 2011Smartbuy

WHAT’S HOT this week

This pocket-sized hard drive from Buffalo is USB 3.0 equipped, for faster transfer speeds up to 5 GBps.The plug and play device is compatible with both PCs and Macs, and requires no external power source.The MiniStation is also energy efficient, reducing power consumption and battery usage during periods ofinactivity. Its backup utility will create a copy of all your files, so you never have to worry about your datagetting lost. Take your pick from glossy black and white.500GB: Rs 4,2001TB: Rs 6,500

The Android 2.1 poweredXT800 is the first phone inthe Milestone series tofeature a dual mode(CDMA/GSM) and dualSIM, making it compatiblewith practically anynetwork. The display is alarge 3.7-inch FWVGAtouch screen, with aresolution of 854x480. The5-megger camera features adual LED flash, digital zoomand autofocus, and is alsocapable of 720p HDrecording – which can betransferred via an HDMIslot.Rs 31,999

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Design

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Cover photo: S. Muralidhar

Pocket storage Buffalo MiniStation

Dual delightMotorola Milestone XT800

The latest Nokia is theX2-01, which offers you afull physical QWERTYkeyboard. The budgethandset comes with a VGAcamera, Ovi Life Tools,push e-mail and one-keyaccess to socialnetworking apps. Theinternal memory is just55MB but can be expandedup to 8GB with anadditional memory card.The handset comes in fivecolours - Red, Deep Grey,Silver, Lilac and Azure. Rs 4,459

‘QWERTY’ fun!Nokia X2-01


The Wave II is the fifth phone bySamsung to feature its proprietary

‘bada’ OS, and is powered by a 1GHzprocessor. The 3.7-inch LCD display isideal for watching movies, gaming or

simply browsing through photos, and isencased in a seamless aluminium body.It also features Quicktype by T9, whichoffers a Swype-like texting experience.You can also record and view videos inHD, and get snapping with the 5-meg

camera with LED flash. The phonecomes with 2GB of internal memory

expandable up to 32GB.Rs 20,900

Smartphone splashSamsung Wave II

The WindPad 100W Tablet PC features the Intel mobile platform processor and a 10.1-inch touchscreen which supports multi-touch gestures. The tablet runs on MSI’s proprietary WindTouch userinterface and features dual cameras. The WindPad 100 comes pre-loaded with Microsoft OfficeStarter 2010. It integrates a number of frequently used applications like MSI’s EasyViewer photomanagement software, Windows Multimedia Center that can be used for MSN, Skype and IE, and aweb phone. Rs 34,990

Plustek introduces OpticSlim 2600, flat-bed scanner for easy use at home and small offices. TheOpticSlim 2600 comes with five one-touch action buttons including Copy, OCR, E-Mail, Custom andPDF to integrate with the bundled software. The OpticSlim 2600 is capable of scanning A4-sizedocuments at an optical resolution of 1200 dpi. You can plug it in the USB port of your computer orlaptop to transfer the scans. Rs 3,450

Winds of change MSI WindPad 100W

‘Scan’dalously good! Plustek OpticSlim 2600


CAMERA review

Ketaki Bhojnagarwala

The Samsung ST-550 was a revolutionary pointand shoot with its dual-view LCDs, which madeshooting self portraits really easy. Recently, Sam-sung launched two further models in the ST

series, the ST600 and ST100. We get the ST600 on our testbench to find out whether it’s worth the upgrade.

Look and feelFor those of you familiar with the ST550, you’ll immedi-ately notice the change in the size of the front LCD, whichhas been upgraded from 1.5-inches to a more convenient1.8-inches. The front LCD can be activated either by press-ing the dedicated button on top of the camera, or bytapping it when the camera is turned on. We had to tap thescreen a few times to get it to turn on though.

The rear LCD is a large 3.5-inch display, and is touchenabled – which accounts for its size. There are no phys-ical controls on the rear. The play button is located on theouter right hand corner, which is actually really conve-nient.

The lens is a 27mm wide angle Schneider Kreuznach,with a decent 5x optical zoom.

Storage is in the form of micro SD or micro SDHC cards– a little inconvenient if you’ve been using regular SDcards on other cameras. There’s also the provision for amini HDMI port – since the camera supports 720p HDvideo recording.

One major drawback is the lack of a micro USB port –you have to connect up the camera through Samsung’sproprietary cable. The only advantage to this is that you

can charge the camera directly through a wall socket –without having to bother about taking out the battery andputting it in a separate charging case.

ControlsAll of the controls, except zoom, are touch-based. The rearLCD is pretty informative, and displays all your data asyou’re shooting so you know exactly what settings you’veenabled. At the top left corner there’s a button to activatethe different modes. There is a dedicated Program Mode,but there’s not much that you can do with it. For example,you can adjust white balance, ISO and exposure, but notshutter speed and aperture. There’s also a Smart modewhich recognises your scene automatically.

Apart from that there is the usual line-up of scene

modes which you can choose from, including Portrait,Fireworks and Beach/Snow. Unfortunately, in Scenemodes you can’t adjust any settings apart from Focus Area,so the camera decides all manual functions on its own.

All the controls are displayed as icons, so in order toknow which icon represents what function, you have toslide your finger across them for the information to popup. However, if you’re just browsing through functionsand your finger stops at a particular icon, it gets activatedautomatically, so it’s a bit of a pain to go back and forth. Wemust say that the touch sensitivity was excellent though,and made navigating menus really smooth and intuitive.

Front cameraActivating the front camera brings up a list of settingsspecific to it, so you don’t have much control over manualsettings. There’s a Smile shot, where a Smile icon appearswhen you press the shutter down halfway, and is a goodindicator of when you should display your pearly whitesfor the lens.

There’s also a Jump shot, which is a pretty cool feature.When you press the shutter, the front camera displays acountdown, at the end of which there’s an indicator ofwhen you should jump. The camera then snaps threeconsecutive images of you, so you usually end up with oneshot mid-air. It’s a really fun and innovative feature, whichshould appeal to the younger crowd.

There’s also a special kids mode, which displays car-toons to encourage the child to pay attention to the cameraand even generate a few smiles. The Couples shot auto-matically snaps a photo when two heads are in the frame,

Samsung does a double take!Product photos: R. Ravindran

Test photos: Ketaki Bhojnagarwala

Macro shot: Image lookswashed out and not muchdetail visible


and this worked really well.

ResultsI tested the Macro and Night modes, which I consider tobe two very good indicators of a camera’s performance.The macro function let us get really close to the subject,but the results were slightly washed out and the colourstended to bleed into each other. We would have liked theoption to adjust exposure in Macro mode, but the ST600doesn’t offer this option.

The Night mode showed a lot of noise (grain) in theimages, and didn’t pick up ambient light very well. Results

were mostly blurry, and the photos tended to take on areddish-orange hue, which is reminiscent of what we gotwith older digicams.

The camera does offer dual image stabilisation – DigitalImage Stabilisation and Optical Image Stabilisation.

There are a number of image effects you can apply to thephotos – we especially liked the Vignetting, Fish Eye andNegative effects – which are really fun ways to jazz upyour photos.

The battery life of the camera was really poor though,and we could take just about 60 frames before it wascompletely drained out, so we’d advise carrying an extra

battery.Our verdictThe ST600 is definitely a unique camera, but for users whoalready have an ST550, there’s not much that the new oneoffers in terms of an upgrade. We’d recommend it mainlyfor the younger generation who want a fun camera, but it isnot very suitable for someone looking to buy a ‘prosumer’,as it doesn’t really score with its image results.

Love: Jump shot feature, good touch responseHate: Average results, high price tagRs 19,990

Smile DetectionIt’s been some time now since not just smartphones butcameras too have adopted ‘smart’ features. One of theearliest of these was ‘Face Detection’ followed by ‘SmileDetection’.

While a couple of digicams got it right, some otherswere quite inaccurate with the technology and the algo-rithm that the companies embed in their Smile Detectionsoftwares vary from one to the other. But here’s a genericlowdown on how this feature works.

The software tracks the facial symmetry of the subjectand marks certain parts of the human face that wouldmost accurately indicate a change in symmetry when wesmile or frown.

These points are most commonly the corners of ourmouth and our eyes. When we smile, the camera recog-nises the change in position of these virtual points andautomatically triggers the shutter to take a picture whilewe are flashing those pearlies.

High Dynamic RangeThe term stands for the difference between the brightestand darkest points in a photograph. The higher therange, the better the contrast and colours in the pho-tograph clicked. A couple of softwares offer this optionduring post-processing but a some cameras now allowyou to do it right when you are clicking the picture.

While using a digicam in bright sunlight, we tend tounder-expose and increase the exposure if there’s toolittle light available to get a better shot. But in both cases,some details are always lost as a result of tweaking theexposure levels. HDR imaging retains these details whenyou click a picture by capturing three shots of the sameimage with three varying exposure levels. The softwarethen combines all three images and saves it as one thathas captured the best of all three differently exposedphotographs. One of the best times to use the HDRfeatures would be shooting during sunset/sunrise to

capture the varying degrees of light and dark in theframe.

GeotaggingGeotagging is the process of adding geographical in-formation to various media, such as photos, videos, web-sites, etc. In order for geotagging to work withphotography, the camera must have an inbuilt GPS, or aslot to attach an external one. Manufacturers like Nikonand Sony have embedded geotagging software in theircameras. Geotagging allows users to find out the exactlocation of where an image has been photographed. Thelocation is displayed as a geographical coordinate alonglatitudes and longitudes. For JPEG images, the geotagdata is not visible in the photo itself, but can be read bycomputers or scanners. For cameras that don’t have GPS,websites such as Flickr and Panoramio allow you toattach the picture to a map, and then display the ge-ographical location.

Decoding JargonDigital cameras nowadays are offering a bunch of features which were unheard of until a

few years ago. We take a closer look at the three most commonly used features ondigicams, to give you a short explanation of how they work

Jump shot: One of the funfeatures you can use with the

front LCD

[email protected]


SMARTPHONE review

Is BOLD..err...better?

Mahananda Bohidar

When the second in the BlackBerry Boldseries, the Bold 9700 had made its debut,it won over most BlackBerry users withits peppy processor, brilliant screen, ex-

cellent keyboard and trackpad. However, in the Black-Berry Bold 9780 (Bold 3), RIM has retained most of thefeatures of its predecessors, and added a few perkswhich include a better OS, more RAM and an excellentcamera. With all this packed in, is the BlackBerry Bold9780 going to be your boardroom weapon of choice?

Switching on this BlackBerry is way too reminiscentof waiting for your aged PC to boot up. A slim progressbar is displayed on the screen, and it takes a good fewminutes for the phone to start up. Even aged businessphones like the Nokia E63 takes lesser time to boot up.

The look and feel is typically BlackBerry – solid,sturdy body that almost feels chunky in your hands,exuding its ‘executive smartphone’ aura despite BBtrying hard to break away from that image.

What’s differentThe design is unfailingly similar to its predecessor, theBlackBerry 9700. You have the same buttons on top,however on this version they aren’t touch sensitive, butclickable – nonetheless they are quite convenient to use.The one on right is a mute button to silence a call or thatannoying alarm every morning and the one on left ismeant to lock/unlock the smartphone. One observationwas that while using the contoured buttons on the leftbezel to adjust the volume, either in the middle ofwatching a video or during a call, there was distortionon the screen space right next to the controls. The bodyhas two customisable convenience keys on either side.

Ours was programmed to be Voice Commands and Cam-era. As part of sprucing up the user interface, the Black-Berry OS 6 has now added two customisable bars to thehome screen. The broad notification bar at the top is nowdemarcated into two; the top letting you access networkand connectivity settings and the bottom indicating theprofile you’ve chosen on the left, notifications in the mid-dle and a quick search option on the right.

One niggle with this new interface is that when youdecide to call a number and start typing the digits, itautomatically reads only the alphabets or the keys youtyped and does an in-menu search. The search functionitself is pretty quick and accurate but we don’t know whythis should be the default function the moment you starttyping something when there’s already a Quick Searchicon on the home screen itself. A long press of the Black-Berry button continues to prop up the application switchscreen but it looks much slicker than it did on the Black-Berry OS 5. With the new OS you have an integratedMessages folder apart from one exclusively for texts. Thisfolder can hold your IMs, BlackBerry messages as well astext messages. The Browser on the Bold 9780 is a newWebKit browser which is a definite improvement on theolder web apps on BlackBerry devices. The translucentbar at the bottom that housed icons like Contacts, Mess-aging, Calendar etc is now designed to display a differentbunch of icons as you swipe through Favourites, Media,Downloads, Frequent and the last one propping up all theapps available in the handset.

The optical trackpad is smooth as ice and the tiny,sweeping keys are really comfortable for frequent use.However, the trackpad is a little more sensitive than it wason the Bold 9700 and it’s easy to overshoot the icon youwould want to scroll up or down to.

MultimediaWhen you launch the Camera app, five small icons at thebottom of the screen offer you the choice to glance at thepics you have already taken; you can adjust the Flashsetting and change from one shooting preset to another.You can even turn on the GPS feature from this panel andthe smartphone will begin to detect your geographicallocation so you can ‘geotag’ your pictures later.

A notch above its predecessor, the Bold 9780 has a5-meg camera (Bold 9700 had a 3.2-meg clicker) withclose to 10 different pre-structured modes to choose from.We took action shots of kids playing in a room and someportraits in low-light and both came out pretty well. Videorecording however is restricted to standard definitionvideo on this handset. This is a bit of a bummer becauseeven relatively low-end handsets in the market offer 720precording these days.

A lot of smartphones just about last a working day withyour regular amount of voice calls, but the BlackBerryBold 9700 had a long-lasting battery and this has evidentlybeen carried over to the Bold 9780. We used it for abouttwo days with very high talktime usage.

Our verdictIf you already have a BlackBerry and want to upgrade yourhandset, then the Bold 9780 is definitely a decent option.But for those who already have a Bold 9700, it might helpto keep in mind that the ‘enhanced experience’ offered isjust a notch better.

Love – Great camera, comfortable keypadHate – Limited upgrades, boot-up timeRs 27,990

Photos: S.S. Kumar

[email protected]


AUTO focus

S.Muralidhar

For many of us, buying a car from Maruti is a bit likeshopping for our daily groceries at the neigh-bourhood ‘kirana’ store. Just like the latter, theformer too is tried, tested, trusted, cost-effective

and pretty much like an addiction. Many of us choose bothsimply by word-of-mouth referrals and are often morethan satisfied with our choice despite other options beingavailable.

But, would we also go to the ‘kirana’ store if we wantedto buy gourmet cheese and wine?

Maruti wants to pull off the automotive equivalent ofthat kind of a retail coup!

After being the driving force and the dominant choicefor a generation of Indians seeking affordable personalmobility on four-wheels, Maruti wants to offer a seriouslycapable luxury sedan for those seeking an upgrade.

The Suzuki Kizashi is Maruti’s first foray into the sportyluxury segment, though it is not the first time that it will belaunching an import (completely built unit) in the Rs 10lakh to Rs 20 lakh category. The not so successful GrandVitara was its first foray in that price category.

Maruti Suzuki is convinced that it has got it right withthe Kizashi, with good reason too. Since its introduction inmarkets like the US, Australia and New Zealand, barely ayear ago, the Kizashi has won considerable acclaim andhas been rated at the top in terms of safety – a 5-star US

NCAP rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration.

DesignThe Kizashi is unlike any other Maruti…oops…Suzuki. Interms of design, while Suzuki engineers have drawn in-spiration from elements in our everyday lives, there arereally no specific design similarities that have been carried

forward from any of Suzuki current vehicles. Yes, thereare few hints of the SX4 in places, but it is pretty muchunique from every angle. Yet, the Kizashi seems to beunmistakably Suzuki.

The Kizashi’s exterior design is aggressive, though it isintrinsically simple. Very European in character, the Su-zuki sedan’s swooping curves at the front and rear, and thestraight lines on the sides make it attractive from mostangles. The wrap around headlamp design with dual-projector lamps and the radiator grille, with its lines dip-ping to from an over-sized airdam, are clearly the mostattractive features of the Kizashi’s front.

At the rear, the aggressive design language continuesand the Kizashi gets over-sized tail-lamps with circularinner elements. The bootlid sports an integrated spoilerand dual exhaust ends spout out of the large rear fender.The design of the chrome exhaust ends seem to have beeninspired by the Suzuki Hayabusa. But, if you are going toexpect a throaty Lambo-like exhaust note, you’ll be dis-appointed. They are only tail-pipe ends and serve more asaesthetic add-ons.

InteriorsThe Kizashi is the sixth world strategic model from Suzukiand together with its predecessors, this new flagship se-dan too reflects considerable maturity in the design phi-losophy of this Japanese company.

Sign of good things to come for Maruti?

Photos: S.. Muralidhar

The observation is strengthened when I step into theKizashi’s beige dominated interiors. Bright and airy, theKizashi’s interiors exude a lot of upmarket aura. Perforat-ed leather seats, which are 10-way power adjustable andalso offer three-position memory, smart key entry and akeyless push start system, are all standard. The dashboarddesign of the Kizashi is simple and symmetric. There areample storage options provided in the centre console anddoor panels. Integrated music system with seven speakersand automatic climate control are also standard fitment.

The seats with neatly stitched perforated leather arecomfortable and provide considerable thigh and lumbarsupport. The squabs for the front seats are also adjustablefor better lumbar support. Steering wheel with tilt andtelescopic adjustment also gets integrated scroll wheelsfor controlling the music system, receiving incoming callsand the cruise control.

There are a number of luxury elements that the Kizashihas been given. Fine touches like the stitched leather doortrim inserts, rear aircon vents, the pollen filter, the softpolished chrome door handles, leather bound steeringwheel and the quality of plastic used all around is clearlymuch better than what you are used to seeing in Maruticars. There are even steering mounted paddle shifters inthe automatic variant, just like the Honda Civic.

However, there are a few features lacking that mightpull down the upmarket feel in the Kizashi, especially forbuyers who already own a car in the D segment and arelooking for a change. For one, a sunroof option could havebeen given. LED turn indicators, real wood trim and moreinterior colour themes could be the other features thatbuyers would miss in the Kizashi.

PerformanceI drove the Kizashi in and around Udaipur with a fair mixof city roads and the brilliant highway leading up to MountAbu. The Kizashi is being offered with a 2.4-litre (2,393cc),four-cylinder, DOHC, petrol engine with variable valvetiming. The engine generates a peak power of 178 PS @6,500 rpm, which is oodles of power from a Suzuki car thatweighs just a shade under 1.5 tonnes.

Stamp on the throttle and the Kizashi accelerates indouble quick time. Power delivery is very linear and al-most 80 per cent of the peak power is already being routedto the wheels by the time the clock hits 4,000 rpm. Duringmy test drive the car effortlessly hit speeds of up to 180-200 kmph. I drove both the 6-speed manual transmissionand the automatic – continuously variable transmission(CVT).

I found the manual to be a delight to use. The shortthrow, slick-shifting gearbox is enjoyable and has a longrange available in each gear with adequate power still onstandby in each slot, except at peak speeds. In CVT, therewas a tendency for the power to get choked off and taperwithin a shorter band and the shifts took longer than themore nimble automatics available in the segment. Thepaddle shifters were handy and the overall drive feel in theautomatic is also praiseworthy.

Suzuki engineers have worked a lot on the Kizashi’sNVH package, keeping noise and vibration low. Thoughthey have managed to isolate much of the vibrationfrom the passenger cabin there is a certain amount ofnoise that did tend to seep through at high speeds.The ride itself is again eye-opening for a Suzuki car.With a rigid steel chassis and a supportive suspensionset up, the Kizashi’s ride quality is clearly orientedtowards making it a driver’s car.

The Kizashi offers excellent straight line stability andthough you may hesitate to throw it around cor-ners at very high speeds, it ispretty capable of hand-ling those manoeu-vres even at

speeds that you will usually expect only European cars canhandle. The Yokohama tyres shod on 17-inch wheels of-fers good road grip and the steering offers pretty precisecontrol. The suspension set up is reinforcedMacPherson-strut at the front andmulti-link at the rear.

The Kizashi has won accoladesfor its safety features and MarutiSuzuki is not skimping on theamount of safety that has beenpacked into this sedan. You get sixairbags, ESP (electronic stabilityprogramme) with tractioncontrol, ABS with EBD andHill Hold Control in theCVT variant.

In terms of po-sition-

Photo: S. Muralidhar

ing, the Kizashi is longer and wider than the ToyotaCorolla and the Honda Civic. Its wheelbase is the same asthat of the Civic, but longer than the Corolla. Though thisdoes not necessarily translate into more legroom at therear, the back benchers in the Kizashi will still have a fairlycomfy ride. Dimensionally, the Kizashi will be betweenthese two Japanese competitors and the big boys of theluxury car market, including cars like the Toyota Camryand Honda Accord.

BottomlineUndoubtedly, the Kizashi is going to change Maruti’simage as a car maker and it will also have a considerablerub-off effect on its other cars. Maruti Suzuki may not beable to clock big sales numbers with the Kizashi, but itsimpact will still be felt both by the company and itscompetitors.

However, since the Kizashi is an import, Maruti Suzukiis not going to enjoy the benefit of the kind of pricing

power it enjoys with its other cars. Unfortunately forMaruti this could mean that it will be forced to eitherout-price the Kizashi or it could mean that the companywill have to deviate from its fundamental principle ofoffering excellent value for money with its cars.

The Kizashi is due to be launchedhours after this issue hits the stands. Iexpect the Kizashi to be priced in theRs 13 lakh to Rs 16 lakh price band. Atthis price band, it will be able to takeon the competition in the entry-luxu-ry segment with its feature list andwill also be great bang for the buck.

For Maruti, the Kizashi is a goodsign, literally (that is what the namemeans in Japanese), and it could wellbe the harbinger of more premiumcars to come from this brand, whichhad for years been serving us small

cars. A transformation that is akin to going from dailybread to ‘haute cuisine’.

“Hello, is that Ramu kaka? Can you please add two slicesof Camembert and a bottle of Chenin Blanc to my grocerylist?”

[email protected]

FragrantBritWarm spices andcitrus notes for ‘her’and juicy mandarinand wintery spices for‘him’ – Burberry’sValentine’s offeringfor the couple in loveis the Brit, cased in aclassic Burberrycheck bottle.Available at Parcos.Rs 4,240 (Women) andRs 3,580 (Men)


MELANGE luxury redefined

With leather straps andblack grosgrain band,gold and silver colourhardware and 4-inchheels to stand tall,Fendi’s newest LeatherGrosgrain sandal is awinner in its two-tonehues and ladylike shape.Available at its boutiquein New Delhi.Rs 35,058

For theleggy lass

Gucci’s eyewear collection for 2011 impresses with its modernand timeless design for men and women. From aviators withrubber inserts to butterfly silhouettes, the range is exhaustiveand fun to choose from. Head to Gucci stores for your own.Price on request

Eye to eye

Waterman’s new range of pens inIndia is the ‘Exception’, which

boasts of style quintessential tothe brand. While The Marks ofTime and Precious Metals are

limited editions and available onrequest, Night & Day-Ideal and

Slim range are displayed at selectstationery and lifestyle stores.

Rs 18,000 to Rs 25,000 (Slim) and Rs32,000 to Rs 50,000 (Night & Day-

Ideal)

‘Exception’ally yours

Montblanctwins

This sterling silver coated rollerball pen with a blue-grey translucent lacquerand the iconic diamond is the latest from Montblanc’s stable. For fountain penlovers, there’s also this gorgeous one in black precious resin, teamed with ahand-crafted gold-plated nib. Available at Montblanc boutiques.Price on request


FASHION for him All in a man’

While the ‘fitted’ andslim look was a ragelast year, 2011 willsee men taking on amore relaxed avatarwith oversized casualshirts for summer andoversized coats andjackets for winter

The volume of thetop is contrastedwith the slimtrousers. FromBurberry to Gucci toErmenegildo Zegna,the elegant fittingtrouser is a commonfeature in casual aswell as formal wear.Some are high-cuffed, others withjust the perfectpleats and can beteamed withoversized coats orsnug fit tops

Sexy

Silhouettes

The briefcase style bags can hold on for awhile in your wardrobe. What’s in thisyear is large totes and holdalls in classicbrowns, beige and black. Sling one onwhen at work or play

For arelaxed dayout, strap onsome suavesandals

Match it up!

Gucci

Burberry

Gucci

Alfred Dunhill

Etro

Paul Smith


s wardrobe!

The reds and theyellows may comeout during spring,but the dominantpalette this yearare classic dark

shades of charcoalblack, deep blue

and deep purples,grey in all itsshades and

natural whites

Sexy scarves andsilky pochettes are amust have for thefashion savvy male.The ramps sawplenty of scarvesknotted up stylishlyat the neck andpaired with fittedjackets or informalshirts, and it gottied to the holdalltoo

ClassicColours

Adjustable elasticankle straps givepants a sporty feel

Stand collars are in forjackets and coats,detachable collars too!

The swagger is unmistakable, the tuck is perfect and thesturdy belt has just the right number of studs. Men’s

fashion ante is right up this year what with all therenewed confidence to stick to what the doctors have

prescribed, and well, dabble with some personalexperiments. No, this is not a rule book, just some hottest

trends spotted in 2011’s menswear collections from thebest of brands. Sexy silhouettes, new designs, appealing

colours and fun accessories… we have got’em all!

MinutiaeSilk shirts to scarves andpochettes to belts, theelegant paisley andpatchwork designs seepinto menswear too

7 For All Mankind

Etro

Burberry

Gucci

Etro

Team Smartbuy


TASTER’S choice

Elin McCoy

For his 50th birthday two years ago, Phil Asmund-son, Vice Chairman of Technology at DeloitteLLP, flew to Argentina for a vacation and endedup buying a vineyard.

As a long-time wine collector, making his own was asecret dream. During harvest in March or April, he’ll flydown from New York to pick Malbec grapes and playcellar rat. Asmundson bought three acres of land in theUco Valley for just under $200,000 from Vines of Mendo-za, a five-year-old company in Argentina that sells parcelsof prime vineyard acreage, plants them to owners’ specifi-cations, then manages caretaking and winemaking. Own-ers can participate as much or as little as they wish. The 87so far come from 7 states and 9 countries.

“There aren’t many passions that are made easy to do,”says Asmundson. “This was turnkey.”

The other deciding factors? He loves the country’s sig-nature Malbec grape, and was persuaded that the winescould be “really great quality” because Vines of Mendozahas the help of well-known winemaker Santiago Achaval.

When the deal was final, he and his wife celebrated withbottles of Salentein Primus Malbec ($45) from Argentinaand Heitz Trailside cabernet ($80) from Napa. Vines ofMendoza sent him a case of unmarked wines to taste, andused his notes for the style of wine he wanted to make.

Luxury resortOn a freezing December day, I caught up on the latestdevelopments with co-founder Michael Evans, 45,bronzed from days in vineyard sun, at Manhattan’s TopazThai restaurant. Over a spicy salad lunch, he clickedthrough drawings on his laptop of the company’s newluxury resort, opening in 2012, where vineyard ownerslike Asmundson can stay while playing vintner, and tour-ists can be part of the wine lifestyle.

Lots of glass, local stone, a tiny wine blending lab,

courses on Argentine wines - it looked like ambitioushigh-end Napa with South American cowhide flair and abreathtaking snow-capped Andes backdrop. What startedin 2005 as a way for Evans to afford his personal vineyard-owning dream, has expanded into a range of ventures.

“I alternated between working in wireless technologyand politics, but was also passionate about wine,” he said.

Exhausted by the John Kerry presidential campaign, hewas vacationing in Argentina when he was introduced toPablo Gimenez Riili by a bookseller in Buenos Aires. Thetwo became business partners and in 2006, after looking at76 pieces of land, they settled on 1,000 acres accessibleonly by horseback in the Uco Valley, near top wineriesBodegas Salentein and Clos de la Siete.

Financial crashThey ran up credit card debt and tapped friends, familyand angels for $5 million in costs and $500,000 in legalfees, and started offering three to 18-acre parcels in 2007.More than 50 of the total 100 sold quickly, but all stalled in2008.

“You don’t know how hard it is to sell a $200,000vineyard when the financial world is crashing,” Evanssaid. In 2010, though, they unloaded another 25. Planting1.3 million vines, building a winery, and more has costanother $15 million.

There are hundreds of wineries in the Mendoza region,but on my first trip in 2001, there was no wine bar inMendoza city where you could taste the best. So Vines ofMendoza opened The Tasting Room in March 2007, thena retail shop and wine bar in the city’s Park Hyatt hotel in2008. They started a wine club, with a warehouse in Napaand recently added a downloadable insider’s guide to theregion on the Vines of Mendoza website.

Mid-life crisisJudging from the emails I receive, the owning-a-vineyard

fantasy is especially popular among wine lovers in midlifecrisis mode looking for a life-change. There are now doz-ens of projects catering to them. In Oregon wine countrynear McMinnville is just-launched Hyland Vineyard Es-tates, a 154-acre project where winemaker Laurent Mon-talieu is offering homesites with already planted vineshe’ll manage for $700,000 to more than $1 million.Planned communities of home-plus-vineyard are also be-ing sold in Portugal’s Alentejo and France’s Languedocregions. Evans sent me a barrel sample of Vines of Mendo-za’s first wine, a blend of owners’ Malbec grapes, whichwill be released in March. It was smooth and balancedwith lots of dark fruit and earth flavours, though it certain-ly wasn’t the best Argentine Malbec I’ve had.

“It’s not only people with 3,000 bottle cellars who buy,says Evans. “These are investment bankers, doctors look-ing for participatory vacations.” And, of course the chanceto make wine they’d like to put their name on.

They also include restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and aNapa vintner. London-based Nick Smith originally boughtin for investment but says owning his three acres hasturned him into a passionate wine buff.

That’s the spirit!Just after Christmas I received a holiday e-mail fromEvans, who was back home in Mendoza with his chocolateLabrador, throwing meat on the grill for friends at hisregular Sunday asados (a barbeque gathering). He sent abeautiful photo of sunrise over the company’s vineyards inMendoza. Outside my door was a foot of snow. I remem-bered a comment from Asmundson, whose wine, frombought grapes, is now in barrel and will be bottled in 2012,in time to serve at Thanksgiving.

“When I think about my vineyard, I smile,” he said. “Ijust wish I’d bought five acres.”

(The author writes on wine and spirits for Muse, the arts and leisuresection of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

Love wine? Buyyour ownvineyard!

Photo: Bloomberg

Photo: Bloomberg

Remy Martin has unveiledits REMY iceBOXX forshot lovers in Indiabringing in a novel way ofsavouring cognac.Champagne cognac loverscan enhance thesmoothness of thedelectable Remy MartinVSOP Cognac by sipping itat -18 degree C,refreshingly frosty out ofthe iceBOXX. Burstingwith notes of vanilla, peachand orange, the beveragecan be enjoyed neat or with‘fruit nectar’. Available atselect bars and clubs. Price on request

Icy, frosty,Remy!


BEVERAGE launch

Aspri Spirits brings yetanother iconic wine brand tothe Indian palate, MaisonAlbert Bichot from France.Some interesting picks from itsportfolio is the Chablis 1er CruVaillons Blanc Domain Long-Depaquit, a tangy and well-balanced Chardonnay thatgoes great with grilled chickenand Pommard Clos DesUrsulines Pinot Noir with thenose ranging from freshmushrooms to sweet spices,leather and raspberry. Thedeep purple huedChateauneuf-du-Pape isgenerous and powerful andpairs well with red meats,game and cheese, and ChateauD’Orson Cotes du RhoneRouge is fruity and fresh and abarbeque party favourite.Available at leading hotels,restaurants and select wineoutlets across India.Rs 1,799 to Rs 9,000

From France, with love

Happy ‘Grouse’

Revamped in a pink pastelIce Jacket and matchingPaint Box with prettybirds on tree tops, VeuveClicquet Rose makes apretty picture. Designedby artist and illustratorPierre Marie, the jacketkeeps the wine at idealtemperature for two hoursand the paint bucket hastwo outdoor plexi flutes inone half and the other canbe used as an ice bucket.The Rose itself is soft,round and fresh withPinot Noir, Chardonnayand fruity roundness ofPinot Meunier. Price on request

A pink dressfor Rose

Scotland’s favourite TheFamous Grouse whisky haslaunched The Snow Grousein India, made from grainspirit and matured in oakcasks, ‘creating a light,delicate and vanilla sweetwhisky with a uniquelysmooth taste.’ Best whenserved ‘seriously chilled’,which goes against thetraditional Scotch whiskynorm, the Show Grouse hasa chilled taste sensationand comes across assmooth and silky withflavours releasing in theback of the mouth whenfrozen to -18 degrees C.Rs 2,000 (700ml)

Smartbuy issue dated February 2, 2011

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Transcript of Smartbuy issue dated February 2, 2011