EPSON L380 printer review: Ideal for home and small businesses

Epson has launched its ink tank series printers quite a while ago with promise to have cost effective printing solutions with ease and low maintenance. Epson L380 is one of the series and we got a chance to review this device. This printer is priced at INR 12,089/- , but whether this device does justice to its pricing and the expectations set by it? Let's find out.

Design:

In first look you will find that L380 looks similar to other multi functional printers where in you have a lid atop which can be raised to do the scanning or copying work. The device can work on at most A4 size paper and weighs around 4.4 Kg. On the right side of the device you will see the extension attached which is the inktank, separate ink box helps in easier access and visibility of ink levels.

Epson L380

The input for printing is taken from back side of the printer and printed copies are produced to the front side. To collect your A4 size papers you can draw the tray from bottom to extend it to give support to the output paper. On the front of the device you will see Epson branding below which there are 4 functional buttons which are Power, Black and White copy, Color Copy and inklevel/warning indicator , last button can also be used to cancel current operation. While middle two buttons can be pressed simultaneously to scan and save document as pdf.

The device offers connectivity via USB cable and there is no wireless connectivity option given. Overall the printer looks sturdy and reasonably built. Our only concern was the side attachment for color box which is prone to get detach when not handled carefully while lifting the printer.

Performance:

We had interesting encounter with the device, we started testing the copy feature and found color reproduction was not good when doing color copies. We contacted Epson representatives and they sent an engineer to look into the issue. It turned out that the issue was just with the nozzles not being cleaned and could be easily cleaned by sending a simple command from computer. We installed the device drivers from web and did the steps as suggested. Once we had printed a test page everything was working like charm. The prints were coming as close to real and copies were identical to the original.

The printing speed for Black and white prints is good for text which is around 11 pages per minute however for colored text prints the speed drops to around 5 pages per minute as expected. For printing colored images of A4 size the printer takes around 1 minute. The images printed on glossy paper were of high quality and we were happy with the prints we got from device.

Company claims to print 7500 colored copies (text) and 4500 black and white copies with single set of refill. The ink levels before and after our testing kind of support the same.

Verdict:

The device is extremely easy to use and maintain. The prints are cost effective as promised in ink tank series printers. The colors are evenly distributed and one can obtain high quality images from the printer without having to worry much about the cost.  Though, the device lacks wifi (at this price point its unfair to expect though), the inktank attachment could be better fixed.

Keeping above points in mind we can easily recommend this device for home use and small businesses. However for very heavy daily usage its not recommended.

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Vivo's first bezel less display phone V7+ emerged as market leader in its segment in Counterpoint Report

Counterpoint Research report has indicated that Vivo's latest flagship launch V7+ is market leader in INR 20-25K category with 33 percent market share in September 2017.

Being the company’s first phone with 18:9 FullView display, the V7+ stands out with its selfie focus, enabled with a 24-megapixel front camera. Further, the phone’s Snapdragon 450 ensures a higher level of efficiency and power. Its contemporary and ingenious visual experience, futuristic design, superior performance makes V7+ an obvious choice for Indian youth.

Vivo V7+

Speaking on the milestone, Mr. Kenny Zeng, CMO, Vivo India said, “The smartphone market in India has been clocking rapid strides of growth with the country’s conducive socio-economic environs. Vivo focuses on customer-centric offerings that best complements their lifestyles by heavily investing in understanding their consumers. V7+’s success story testifies that we are on the right track and we look forward to clocking many more such milestones in the near future.”

Also speaking on the success of V7+, Mr Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint said, “Vivo's V7+ offers a unique and differentiated set of features with its 18:9 display and stellar camera in the 20-25K INR price segment. As a result of which, within two months of its launch, it became the leader in this segment.”

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Carnegie Mellon University and BitClave partner to improve the search experience

BitClave, the company that is disrupting the traditional ad tech market, is proud to announce its partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). This fall, BitClave is sponsoring a practicum project for graduate students in the College of Engineering’s Information Networking Institute (INI) at CMU Silicon Valley. The practicum pairs teams of students with corporate, research and government sponsors to work on groundbreaking ideas that shape our future in everything from computing and mobile systems to things like ad tech and software development.

“Community is essential for any project to be successful. The CMU tech community has been very welcoming to our team and supportive of our mission. They’re always forward-thinking and I think they see a lot of promise here,” says Alex Bessonov, CEO at BitClave.

BitClave will be bringing its extensive knowledge in blockchain and cryptocurrency to work with INI’s mobility and information security students on disruptive advertising technology. While providing the students a rich learning experience, this collaboration will benefit the BitClave’s platform as well. For instance, one such project will help to improve anonymization and ranking system of BitClave Active Search Ecosystem (BASE). BitClave’s software engineers will be working in collaboration with INI students to improve the user’s search experience while still offering a comfortable level of anonymity.

"Bridging the gap between theory and practice, the practicum affords INI students the opportunity to innovate in the wild alongside experts in the field," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of the INI. "A startup like BitClave provides exposure to entrepreneurial, startup culture and frontier technologies like blockchain, while also enabling students to apply classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems."

Patrick Tague, CTO at BitClave and associate director of the INI, is excited about the possibilities, stating,“Carnegie Mellon has long had a reputation as a leader in technology, so disruptive tech like blockchain is naturally very appealing. Combining blockchain with ad tech has a lot of potential, and I think it gets people excited.”

BitClave is a startup company using blockchain to eliminate ad service middleman and create a direct connection between businesses and customers. BitClave is building a decentralized search engine that helps its users truly find what they are looking for and get compensated every time they click on search results for products and services from their favorite brands, making third-party advertising networks unnecessary and annoying ads a thing of the past.

On the BASE, customers exercise full control over their identity, deciding who has access to their data while earning CATs each time businesses use their data to make them offers. Through this platform, businesses can serve personalized, relevant offers directly to users who have already expressed interest in their products and services, significantly increasing their return on advertising spending.

Partnering with companies like BitClave is one way that the INI's students in Silicon Valley benefit from hands-on, industry experience at the epicenter of high-tech innovation. The INI's advanced, specialized curriculum combines rigorous technical topics, practical industry-oriented topics and real-world project experience to empower students to be the movers and shakers of the tech industry, whether launching a start-up, joining an enterprise R&D team or fighting cyber-crime.

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Mi A1 : Android One Reviver or Killer of 'Flagship Killer' or both

Hey Guys, remember Android One? If not then let us remind you, it was Google's initiative to make Android phones more accessible to Indian consumers with a promise of pure Android on the device and certified by Google the branding was licensed to Indian manufacturers Micromax and Karbonn. These phones from respective companies were priced below 7000 INR and packed in 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM with Quad Core processors something which was generally available at price greater than 8000 in market at that time. A great initiative with massive advertisements, however the results were not up to the mark.

Highlights:

• Xiaomi Mi A1 is priced in India for Rs 14,999
• The phone comes with a guarantee of 2 years update from Google.
• Mi A1 Comes with Dual 12 MP rear Camera and2X optical zoom
• The device comes with 4 GB RAM, 64 GB ROM.
• Available on Flipkart, Mi.com and Mi Home Stores from 12 PM IST, 12th September

Today Google and Xiaomi announced the Android One launch with Xiaomi Mi A1 in India. The phone is a great example of what Android One represents: a collaboration between Google and its partners to deliver a software experience designed by Google.

Xiaomi Mi A1

3 years later Google is back with program albeit this time partner is changed and a lot have changed on the device profile. Though its very obvious you had to upgrade the device configuration to cope up with the market equations of today, however Mi A1 is a device which exceeds expectations by a great margin, at least on the paper. This is the device which priced at INR 14999/- can eat away the market share of present 'Flagship Killer', if you know what I mean. Thus this time there is expected to be huge hype around the device and it is expected that Android One will get a revival as Budget Flagship brand from Google . 

As you might have guessed , Mi A1 is optimized for Google's best products such as Duo, Personal Assistant and comes with security features such as Google Play Protect out of the box. The phone will receive latest Android Updates from Google for 2 years. As of now the device will come running on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. It comes with 5.5 inch full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and is powered by Snapdragon 625 octa core processor paired with 4GB of RAM. For storage you get 64 GB ROM onboard and can be further expanded upto 128 Gb via micro SD card on hybrid slot. The phone comes with connectivity options as 4G VoLTE , dual band WiFi 802.11ac, GPS, USB Type-C port and 3.5 mm headphone jack. 

For sensors the phone has accelerometer, ALS, gyroscope, IR, Magnetometer and proximity sensor. The device is fueled by 3080 mAh strong battery. 

Xiaomi Mi A1 enables the users to capture moments in stunning detail on Xiaomi’s dual camera with 2X optical zoom along with an unlimited storage space at high quality with Google Photos. The new phone will be available in dozens of countries, including India, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

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Hyundai Launches 2017 Verna with starting price of Rs 7.99 lakhs

In grand event held in National Capital Delhi, Hyundai India announced launched of its much anticipated Next Gen Verna i.e. 2017 Verna with starting price of Rs 7.99 lakh for Petrol variant and 9.19 Lakhs for Diesel one. The pricing however ex showroom Delhi Price and reserved for first 20,000 buyers. Which implies that we can expect a hike in price after that threshold.

Hyundai Verna 2017

The fifth generation of Verna comes with several firsts in segment as well as from Hyundai as well. The 2017 Verna is based on K2 Platform as opposed to K1 on its predecessor. FYI, K2 platform is used in Hyundai Elantra. The other changes includes cascading front grill, projector and cornering head lights, projector fog lamp, LED tail lamps, day time LED lamps, length  and wheelbase is increased. 

Inside the car, you will get ventilated front seats, seven inch infotainment system with IPS touch display which also supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, MirrorLink. Other than that you will find rear AC vents and an Electric Sun roof. Other unique features of the car are handsfree opening of trunk when you stand behind the car and Hyundai's Patented Eco-Coating which is said to kill odor creating microorganisms in car AC.

Under the hood the car comes in two power variants. 1.6 Dual VTVT petrol and 1.6 VGT Diesel engines with Power output of 123 PS, Torque 15.4 KGM and 128 Ps , 26.5 KGM respectively. The company claims the fuel efficiency as 15.92 kmpl for Petrol automatic and 17.70 for Petrol Manual, while for the Diesel the figures are 21.02 kmpl for automatic and 24.75 for Diesel. 

@HyundaiIndia #NextGenVerna 360 view. pic.twitter.com/AukiVWSr7Q

— Rahul Kasana (@RahulKasanaTech) August 22, 2017

Along with that the car will also be available in 7 color variants in each power terrain. Refer below for pricing of different variants.

Ex showroom Del prices for @HyundaiIndia #NextGenVerna for different variants. pic.twitter.com/gATItEWWvJ

— Rahul Kasana (@RahulKasanaTech) August 22, 2017

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