Mrinmoy Choudhury, Author at Exhibit Tech

Indian FTR 1200 – Review | Flat Tracker For The Streets

Flat Track racing is one of the most popular racing formats in America. Indian Motorcycles, who also claim to be the first motorcycle manufacturers of America, have been tearing up the flat tracks with their FTR 750 flat tracker, a purpose-built championship-winning motorcycle. Indian, decided to get an FTR for the street, as the Indian FTR 1200 and here is our experience of riding it on the streets.

The Indian 1200 FTR has the looks that could kill, especially for people who love naked and raw styling. While the riding experience has been amazing, here are the ride impressions put together for this beast of a motorcycle.

It looks very raw and edgy, clearly replicates the Flat Track racing motorcycles with its aggressive-looking stance, a short tail section and Flat-Track tyres. The overall design is elegant but minimal. A bare trellis frame, fat rubber, golden shocks on both ends. LED lighting shows the way while a fully 4.3-inch digital touchscreen instrument cluster with Bluetooth connectivity makes it very modern.

The engine is a 1203cc, 60-degree V-Twin engine which is liquid-cooled. It makes 120 BHP of power and 120 Nm of torque and is mated to a 6-speed gearbox. The burble from the engine is quite muffled at low revs but throaty when revved hard and the bike feels very lively after around 5000 rpm. Drop the clutch and it very patiently crawls which helps you make it through the city traffic. The engine tends to get very hot in crawling traffic. The suspension setup comes to form SACHS, USD forks on the front and the rear is mounted with a mono-shock, both of which are fully adjustable. Braking power is courtesy of Brembo M4.32 callipers and dual discs on the front and a rear single pot calliper from Brembo shaving speeds instantly when needed.

Three rider modes viz Rain, Road and Sport can be selected via the touchscreen. In the track mode, one can choose to disable the Traction Control and ABS. Cruising on the highway was not an issue as the engine can hold high speeds upwards of 120 km/hr with ease. The safety net includes ABS, Traction Control and an IMU that aids the cornering ABS. The Pro Taper handlebars are wide enough to make you feel like sitting on a flat tracker while the short rear fender with integrated grab rails accentuates the overall appeal. The switchgear quality is very premium and the overall fit and finish of the FTR are superb.

Handling is amazing on the FTR 1200 and it is very nimble even with its 230 kgs of kerb weight. The seat height of 840mm could be a challenge for some shorter riders. The gearshifts are on point with the neutral being the easiest to find. The 12.9-litre tank under the seat actually is small for this gas guzzler that could make long-distance ride have frequent fuel stops. The slipper clutch makes the clutch-pull almost feel like a 150cc commuter.

Well, this Indian, is what not the other Indians are. It gets out of the typical Indian cruiser silhouette and makes a new identity for itself. You will end up spending Rs. 15.99 lakhs (ex-showroom) for this Flat Tracker for the street, but be wary, you will have a wide smile each and every time you ride it.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1203cc, 60-Degree V-Twin
Power: 120 Bhp
Torque: 120 Nm
Transmission: 6-Speed Gearbox

Google Android Q Features Explained

With the launch of the Beta version of Google Android Q, many devices have been receiving updates for the beta version of the OS before the final release. The stable build of the Android Q is expected to be launched in the 3rd quarter of the year.

The Android Q OS is its current beta stage is quite stable when compared to its previous beta update. The Android Q also brings in several new features along with it. The current beta OS supports Google Pixel 3 among the listed devices.

Here are some listed features which will be present on the Android Q OS which will support devices which run on pure android without any modifications. Currently, Google is in the process of taking reviews from developers all over and has put out several features to be tested for functionality.

Privacy features like location permissions, restricting background data and background activity are available for test
Gesture navigation is also available for test
The camera now gets a new dynamic format. AV1 for video streaming and HDR10+ for hu=igh dynamic range video is available
A dark theme is also added
For better multimedia experience suggested replies, notification panel and settings panels come along
Audio playback capture which enables captioning and gameplay recording

To get android Q on your device, it has to be in the compatible devices list. Currently, the android Q beta is available for the partner OEMs, mainly the Xiaomi Mi 9, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, Asus Zenfone 5z, Essential Phone, Nokia 8.1, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, LG G8 ThinQ, OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7, OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T, OPPO Reno, Realme 3 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ3, Redmi K20 Pro, Tecno Spark 3 Pro, Vivo X27, Vivo NEX S, and Vivo NEX A which have received the beta update. Not only this, Google will update these devices everytime with new beta releases until the final build is rolled out.

How To Take Great Pictures On Your Smartphone

Smartphone photography has vastly improved in the last few years. It is relatively easy now to carry and get the best images from a vacation from just your phone. All you need to do is get used to your phone camera settings and use its capabilities to improve the quality of the images you take.

While most of us prefer to use our phones for taking most of the pictures, be it a casual vacation or a few images for your Instagram blog, it is important for the images to convey the message. Here are a few tips which cover most of the aspects which you can use and see how much better your images become, especially for those serious photography sessions.

Check the Lighting – Light can make or break an image. Proper lighting around your subject and you will be amazed by the quality of it. Similarly, when you shoot an image in poor light, the image quality will be poor even if the smartphone camera is capable. For heavily sunlit or ambient lit images, take your subject to a shade. The light in the shade is diffused and that is exactly what you need for a portrait of a person. Harsh light creates very hard shadows which make the image look very contrasty and uneven. For indoors, place your subject near to the windows where you will have the external light coming in and evenly lighting the subject’s face.

2. Tap to focus and meter – Your smartphone camera can focus as well as meter reading for an image all by itself. You need to keep your camera steady and tap the subject in your frame. Similarly, you can tap for it to meter the settings of the shot. At times, you will have to deal with the part of the day when the background is brighter than the subject. Such situations can create very poorly lit images, especially the subject. You can also choose to override the automatic settings and use the manual/professional mode of the camera for a better picture. I this way you will have more detail in the image, especially in the shadow regions. Using the HDR more is also helpful, however, sometimes too much of HDR in an image can ruin it.

3. Set shortcuts – When you are an avid shutterbug, you need to set the available shortcuts for your smartphone camera. This will allow you to quickly open the camera app and shoot whenever you come across something interesting. On some android phones, double-tapping the power button launches the camera, while one can also set the volume up/down button for a physical shutter button. For iPhones, a quick swipe is enough to fire the camera app. You can also go to the control centre, long-press the camera icon to display multiple options like taking a selfie image or to record a video. You should be able to access the camera app quickly, regardless of the phone you have,

4. Use portrait mode often – You might think that the portrait mode is handy only when shooting portraits but no, you can use the portrait mode more often. The portrait mode can actually help you isolate the subject (both human and still) and create a background blur. You can use to portrait mode to take good images even when the background is disturbing. However, a clear background makes a better image as so as placing your subject far away from the background does. Not only this, you can use the telephoto mode (which most smartphones have these days, courtesy, more cameras on smartphones, you can easily create the depth effect on the image.

5. Shoot RAW/High-Quality JPEG image – Smartphones are blessed with amazing features. One of them is the ability to shoot in RAW or high-quality JPEG images. RAW image files have the most amount of details captured. Some smartphones allow capturing RAW or DNG files for maximum quality. For those smartphones with JPEG only output, you need to set your JPEG to ‘Large’ or the maximum setting available. This will allow you to extract the best out of the image later in a post-processing application like Snapseed.

6. Keep it clean – Well, who wants to have a dirty phone or a dirty camera lens for a matter of fact. You should take care or at least take the effort to wipe your camera lens before shooting. Since most smartphones have a bigger camera module which is slightly raised from the rest of the smartphone back, use a cover to protect the back of the camera as well as the smartphone itself. A clean/unscratched lens will go a long way in taking good images. So what are you waiting for, go ahead and make some great looking images?

Benelli Imperiale 400 – Review | A Classic Motorcycle With A Modern Heart

The year 2019 has been pretty exciting for the Italian motorcycle brand Benelli as they have been on a launching spree in India. After the Benelli TRK 502 and 502X, the brand was not too late to introduce the Benelli Leoncino 500 and a Leoncino 250 which use the same engine from the TRK 502 and the TNT 250 respectively.

Benelli sure wants to get a stronghold of the Indian automotive market and this is why they have now launched the Benelli Imperiale 400, a modern-retro motorcycle from the house of the Italian two-wheeler maker.

The Benelli Imperiale 400 comes as a modern interpretation of the MotoBi models which Benelli used to produce in the 1950s. A first look at the motorcycle and you are sure to find many similarities with a few motorcycles in this segment. There are several chrome elements on the motorcycle which definitely lend it a character to it. The Imperiale 400 sports a round headlamp as well as round indicators and an oval-shaped taillamp. Like on most of the motorcycles we see these days, you do not get any LED lighting on offer. The twin-pod analogue-digital instrument cluster displays all information, tell-tale lights and also gets small digital panels for the trip, time, odometer, gear and fuel-level display.

The motorcycle looks quite impressive given the 12-litre teardrop-shaped tank. It gets a lot of black treatment as well on the engine as well as the side panels, silencer as well as the front and rear mudguards with black split seats with colour contrast stitching. Overall, it is a handsome looking motorcycle which reflects the retro out loud.

Powering the Imperiale 400 is an air-cooled, 374cc, fuel-injected SOHC engine which makes about 21 PS of peak power and 29 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 5-speed gearbox. Now coming to the ride quality, the Imperiale 400 offers a good rideability both on and off the pavement, thanks to the relaxed seating position and the 19-inch 100 section front and 18-inch 130 section rear tyres shod on spoke wheels. The suspension duties are taken care of by 41mm telescopic forks at the front and twin shock absorbers at the rear with preload-adjustability. Braking department gets a 300mm disc at the front and a 240mm disc at the rear along with dual-channel ABS as a standard offering.

Coming to the ride quality, the rear suspension feels a bit stiff, especially at slow speeds but surprisingly handles Indian road conditions quite well. It is happy to cruise all-day at speeds up to 100km/hr without even breaking a sweat. Heating on the motorcycle is not really evident. At 205 kgs, it is slightly heavy, but you would feel the weight only when parking or in traffic doing dead speeds. Take it off the pavement and you will be surprised how well it holds on to the off-road patches despite having less ground clearance. The TVS tyres seemed to offer a firm grip even when being pushed.

The Benelli Imperiale 400 rivals the likes of the Royal Enfield Classic 350, the Jawa variants. Priced at Rs. 1.69 lakhs (ex-showroom), the Imperiale 400 is a strong contender in this segment for the price it is being offered for. What you get are solid build quality and a 3-year unlimited-kilometre warranty. The company is also offering free services for the first two years which makes it an even more interesting proposition for someone who is looking to buy a retro-themed motorcycle which can do touring as well as occasional rough terrains.

SPECS

Engine – 374cc,Four-stroke, Fuel-injected, SOHC, Air-cooled

Power – 21 PS @ 5500 rpm

Torque – 29 Nm @4500 rpm

Transmission – 5-Speed