A date with the beast. My Land Rover Experience at Aamby Valley

Land Rover is known worldwide for it's brilliant cars and recently Jaguar Land Rover India and Blogadda gave me the opportunity to experience the 2016 Land Rover Discovery Sport by off-roading at Aamby Valley.

The Land Rover Experience is an annual event that is organised by Jaguar Land Rover so that people get to test the cars in a challenging and tough environment. Before I share my experiences from the Land Rover Experience at Aamby Valley, take a look at the video compilation by Land Rover of the various Land Rover Experience events from across the world.

The video must've give you a rough idea about what I experienced at the Land Rover event. The venue for the drive was 19 degrees at Aamby Valley which is an adventure park. Once we reached there, we were greeted by the pleasant sight of a fleet of Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque. That combined with the picturesque mountains in the background left me awestruck.

Once we reached there, we were informed that we were going to test the 2016 version of the cars and just that just added to our excitement.

We were given a quick briefing about the cars and it's features and what we were going to expect when we took the cars for the drive. Once that was done, we were assigned our cars and I got the 2016 Land Rover Discovery Sport. We were also alloted an instructor who would guide us throughout the off-road track.

We were told that we would be testing the Hill Descent Control feature of the Discovery Sport which was developed by Land Rover. In the HDC mode, the driver does not have to touch the brake pedal while going down the slope, as the car takes care of it. I have to admit it, I was scared initially when I took my foot off the brake pedal as the slope was steep, along with big rocks.





However it just took few seconds for me to realise how easily the car handled the slope without me having to do anything and that was the first of the many moments during the drive that blew off my mind!

The Terrain Response System made sure that the car could handle whatever was thrown at it, be it big rocks or sideways inclined stretches on the track or both of them together. There was a point at which I was driving at an almost sideways 40 degrees inclined angle, in addition to the rocks and we easily covered that stretch. The Discovery Sport made the tough track look so simple and I was scared and impressed at the same time.






We even went through a small patch of a river and it was exciting. The things that this car could do amazed me and I wished that I could keep on driving the car for hours.

This car is a beast and there is no doubt in my mind when I use these words to describe the Land Rover Discovery Sport. Infact we can call it the "Beauty and the Beast" for it's stunning looks and raw power that it hides under the hood.

 

The Land Rover Experience was something out of the world and I thank Jaguar Land Rover India and Blogadda for letting me test the Land Rover Discovery Sport on an off-road track.

First impressions of the GOQii band

GOQii is a Menlo Park, California based fitness band startup that is trying to revolutionize the fitness band industry by providing support of a fitness coach along with the band. Recently I had attended the GOQii meetup and had the chance to meet Vishal Gondal who is the founder of GOQii.

GOQii is trying to approach the fitness band industry in a different way by giving away the band for free with the subscription for the personal coach which starts at Rs 3999 for 3 months. So once the subscription gets over, you can continue using the band for free even if you dont renew the subscription, which is really cool.

I have been really impressed with the GOQii band since the time I checked it for the first time, and here is my first impression about the GOQii band.

Box Contents: 

- GOQii band with the core
- USB charger
- Dongle
- Loop for the band


The GOQii band consists of the band and the core which is inserted in the band. The band is made of high grade materials which ensure that you can stay allergy free even if you use the band throughout the day.

The best part of the band is the core which has a touch screen display. You can also use the band as a watch, which is a really useful feature. The GOQii band has a battery life of 7 days, which is really impressive considering that it is a touch device.

The GOQii band uses 3 axis sensors and uses sophisticated algorithms to track movements. The sleep mode of the band also tracks your sleeping patterns.

The band comes with an app which collects the raw data that has been measured by the band and converts it into analytics which can be viewed by you and your personal coach based on which the personal coach helps you to achieve your targets.

Another unique feature of the GOQii band is the Karma points system. The karma points that you earn by remaining active can be donated to charities. So along with making yourself fit, you can spread happiness and make a difference by helping people. This feature is an amazing way to motivate you to become more active.

Conclusion:
The first impression of the GOQii band is really good and I am very impressed with it. The touch interface of the band is very useful and it can be used as a watch which makes it even better. I will be posting a detailed review of the band after testing it thoroughly.

Meetup with GOQii team at Salt Water Cafe Mumbai

Recently I had a wonderful opportunity of meeting Vishal Gondal, who's the founder of GOQii and also the founder of Indiagames which was later acquired by Disney! So I was very excited to meet him in person and get to see the GOQii band and boy did it not disappoint me. 

We had a wonderful session where Vishal gave insights about the GOQii band and the idea that inspired him to work on creating a fitness band that actually makes a difference and motivates a person to bring about a change in their lifestyle and become healthy and fit.

Another exciting part of the meetup that excited me was the chance to meet Satyajit Chaurasia, who's a celebrity trainer and the pro coach at GOQii. He's the guy who helped Aamir Khan get that killer body in Ghajni! He shared some valuable tips such having a glass of lime juice after eating desserts, as it helps to negate the effects of desserts on our body. 

We also checked the various features of GOQii band and it's simply amazing. I have used Mi band in the past and motivation was the important thing that was missing as there used to be days when I didn't do any training even though I had the band. However that's not the same case with GOQii, as it comes with a personal coach who motivates you to train constantly and that's what impressed me the most. 

Overall it was a great event where I got to meet some wonderful people and got to see an amazing fitness band and to make things exciting, it started raining and the weather was perfect. Now that's how a perfect day should be! 

Mi Band Review: Xiaomi does it again with it's ultracheap fitness band

Xiaomi is an amazing company with the aim to shakeup the industry with its ultracheap yet good quality devices. They have proved it with their mobile phones and this time it's the fitness band that's weaving all the magic. Mi Band is currently available for S$19.99 plus shipping and it hasn't yet been officially launched in India but you can still buy it on Amazon India. In case you dont have much time, here's the summary of the device.

Pros:
- Its very cheap! It's competitors are 3-4 times costlier
- Ridiculously good battery life
- Water resistant
- Measures sleep patterns
- Vibrating alarms
- Quick unlock feature for phone

Cons:
- Only compatible with Android 4.4 or higher devices
- Gesture motion indicator doesnt work as desired
- At times records steps when you are sitting in a vehicle

The product packaging is sleek and looks good. However you might face some issues while removing the top of the box but it's not a big issue. The box comes with the Mi Band along with the charger and a manual.





Design :

The Mi Band has a simple design and it looks good. The band consists of a rubber strap and an ultra light core sensor that tracks all the movements. When you wear the device on your hand, you wont even realise that you are wearing something.

The core weighs only 5 gm and has an aluminum alloy surface. The core is dust and water resistant and that ensures that you dont need to worry about the band when you go for swimming. The core is powered by an ultra-thin battery which has a capacity of 41 mAh, but dont get fooled by that number as the battery lasts for 40+ days which is an insane amount of time. With such a good battery life, we are sure that you will forget that this device even has a charger. The core has three tiny LED lights that glow in Blue, Green, Orange and Red colours.

The Mi Band lacks a screen but the LED lights give you an indication about your daily walking progress. To check the progress, you need to lift your hand like you are checking the time on a watch and the LED lights glow displaying the progress. However, it doesnt work as you want it to and it can get frustrating at time when you try to check the progress.

If you set a target on 9000 steps and finish walking 6000 steps, two LED lights will glow and once you complete the target, all three lights glow along with a vibration alert.

Mi Band App :

Steps to setup your Mi Band :

You first need to install the Mi Fit app on your Android phone or iPhone. Once you do that, you need to create an account before you can move ahead. Once that is done, you will have to enter information so that the band can calculate data properly.




You then need to turn on the Bluetooth on your mobile so that the band can be paired with the phone.

The feature to unlock the phone with the band is really useful. When you bring the band near the phone, it automatically unlocks it even if you have put a lock code.

Once the band has been setup, all that you need to do is walk and check the app to see the stats once in a while. The app is minimalistic and displays all the data in an uncluttered manner.

It shows you the total steps that you have taken, the total distance that you covered along with the calories that you burned. It also shows you statistics about your daily progress which you can share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or other sites.

You can use this app to track your progress when you go for a long walk or for jogging. It gives detailed information of the entire session, however I noticed that the map isnt visible. It just shows the route that you have taken on a blank background, instead of a map.



Another feature that I loved was that it automatically tracks your sleep and gives details like the time at which you slept and woke up. It also for how much duration you were in a state of light and deep sleep, which is pretty cool. However I tried to test the feature by taking an afternoon nap and it didnt record the sleep even once. So that's once issue with the sleep tracker, it works only at night.

Apart from all these things, the app also can be used to keep a track of sit-ups and skipping rope. So if you dont feel like going for a jog, then you can just do some skipping or sit-ups and check the stats on the app once you are done.

Another wonderful feature of the Mi Band is that you can use it as an alarm. All you have to do is set the alarm using the app and in the morning, the band vibrates along with the alarm sound. It is pretty useful for getting up early in the morning. 

We can also setup the alarm so that it starts vibrating when you get a call. There are times when you go out and due to the noise, you cant hear the call ringing. Once you setup the call ringing alarm, the band starts vibrating if you dont answer the call.


Conclusion:

The Mi Band is a wonderful device for the price at which it is being sold and you can easily ignore some of the flaws that it has. It doesnt have a display like some of the bands like Goqii have but it preforms as it promises and that to at a very low cost. It is a product that is perfect for people who want to try a fitness band but dont want to spend lot of money.

Snaps from Comicon Mumbai 2015

Every December is a great time for comic fans in Mumbai. Comicon is a 3 day long fun fest where you come across some amazing stalls and also get to see various cosplayers and not to forget the guests that attend the event.

Here are some pictures clicked at Comicon Mumbai 2015.