OnePlus is launching the OnePlus 10R 5G and OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G in India on the 28th of April at 7pm. Before the launch, the smartphone’s specifications, color options, and pricing were leaked. Keep reading to know all the details of the OnePlus 10R 5G and OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G.
OnePlus 10R 5G
Specifications
One Plus 10R 5G
OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G
Body and Display
The OnePlus 10R 5G will have a 6.7-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate and protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
The OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G will have a 6.58-inch display with a drill-hole front camera notch, full HD+ display resolution, and a 90Hz refresh rate.
Processor and Storage
MediaTek Dimensity 8100 chipset, with up to 12GB RAM onboard and 256GB storage, makes up the storage and processor of the OnePlus 10R 5G.
While the OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 SoC, with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage at hand, all of this may additionally be mixed with Android 12 out of the box, with OxygenOS 12.
Camera
The smartphone features a triple rear camera setup with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor alongside an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. At the front, it gets a 16-megapixel snapper.
The OnePlus teaser videos also display a triple rear camera, with a 64-megapixel primary lens which will headline. There isn’t much disclosed about the other two cameras at the back. To the front, there may be a 16MP unit for selfies.
Battery
OnePlus 10R will reportedly get two variants – one with a 4,500mAh battery and 150W SuperVOOC charging, and the alternative with a 5,000mAh battery and 80W fast charging.
The company has confirmed already that the OnePlus CE 2 Lite 5G would sport a 5,000mAh battery. This is slated to be combined with 33W fast charging.
Pricing and Availability
The upcoming OnePlus 10R 5G will be priced at Rs. 38,999 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB version and Rs. 44,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB variant.
The Nord CE 2 Lite will be available in two variants – one with 6GB RAM and the other with 8GB RAM. The devices will offer 128GB of internal storage and cost Rs 19,999 and Rs 21,999, respectively.
Homegrown smartphone brand Micromax is set to launch a new smartphone IN2c tomorrow. The brand announced the launch via its official Twitter handle by posting the phone’s image.
Micromax is making a comeback in the Indian markets. The new Micromax IN2c will be the successor to In2b. Flipkart’s support page for Micromax IN2c reveals some specifications and design insights.
Body and Display: The handset will boast a 6.52-inch HD+ (720×1600 pixels) LCD with a 20:9 factor ratio and 420-nits of peak brightness. The Micromax IN2c will have a waterdrop notch layout and a prominent bezel at the bottom.
Processor and Storage: The UNISOC T610 chipset will be coupled with 4GB/6GB of LPDDR4x RAM. Both editions will be equipped with 64GB of eMMC 5.1 built-in storage. For extra storage, the device will have a microSD card slot. Micromax IN2c may have an Android 11 operating system.
Battery: Microsoft IN2c will be packed with a 5000mAh battery and a 10W standard charger.
Camera: The Micromax IN 2c will load a dual rear camera module, which may also include an 8MP primary lens and a VGA sensor. There should be a 5MP camera for taking selfies and video calling on the front.
Pricing and Availability: Micromax will divulge the availability and pricing information of the IN2c phone in India at its release event on April 26. However, the device is tipped to be under Rs 10,000 and will go on sale through Flipkart and Micromax’s official website. It can be seen that the smartphone will be sold in Silver and Brown colors.
Summer is here, making it essential for everyone to take care of their skin. During summers, we all look for non-oily, lightweight, and refreshing products to use. Winters make our skin dry due to low moisture in the air, and summers make our skin look oily. Hence, changing our skincare products for each weather is necessary. Today, we bring you some summer skincare essentials.
SPF
Sun Protection Factor is an essential skin care product in summer. Wearing sunscreen helps protect the skin against fine lines and wrinkles caused by UV and reduces the risk of skin cancer. A minimum of SPF30 is what we all should use.
Light Moisturizer
Like sunscreen, moisturizer is also essential for skin throughout the year. For the sunny weather, our skin needs lightweight moisturizer. Generally, gel-based moisturizers are preferred for summers to keep the complexion hydrated.
Wet Wipes
Wet wipes are a must-have to keep your face clean and moisturized on the go. They help clean your face and keep it refreshing while you are out and about in the scorching heat.
Body Scrub
As summer arrives, our chances of wearing shorts, skirts, and short dresses also increase. To slough off the dirt and dead skin cells from the skin’s surface, one must have a moisturizing body scrub.
Face Oils
Facial oils work well to nourish the damaged skin as they are highly antioxidant and reparative. Oils give a natural summer glow, hydrate, and illuminate the skin. Dry and combination skin types are recommended to use facial oils.
Serums
A good serum is the one that soothes, enhances skin texture, and hyper pigments the skin during summers. Sun damages our skin and makes it red and patchy. Therefore, effective face serum for smooth skin is suggested.
Lip Balm
Dryness of the lips and summers go hand in hand. To keep the lips moisturized and smooth at all times, a lightweight and neutral lip balm is endorsed. A good lip balm will last long and soothe the lips without making them look heavy on lips.
OnePlus started as a brand with a killer tagline – Flagship Killer! They stood true to their claims by offering quality flagship-level products at mid-range prices. Today in 2022, the scenario is not the same for OnePlus. What was once a flagship killer is now a global flagship phone maker with flagship-level pricing. Their latest flagship product is the OnePlus 10 Pro and it carries a 60+ thousand rupees price tag, a flagship category price too. We will take you through 10 dimensions of the OnePlus 10 Pro and is it worth buying? Let’s continue, shall we?
Display – OnePlus 10 Pro comes with a slightly curved 6.7-inch QHD 2k LTPO2 Fluid AMOLED display that can switch from as low as 1Hz to 120Hz dynamically. With a 20.1:9 ratio display, this phone feels large and long. OnePlus also claims a peak brightness of 1300nits on HDR content but typically it is around 500-800 nits based on the content on that display. In isolation, this display is crisp and flagship-level quality but in comparison to Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, a phone that costs almost 20% less than the OnePlus 10 Pro, Samsung quality dwarfs OnePlus in comparison at the same brightness levels. Both these phones have Gorilla Glass Victus upfront for Protection. There is inconsistency in colour reproduction at different brightness levels.
Frame – This is a glass sandwich phone like most other phones. The front glass is a Gorilla Glass Victus, the rear gets Gorilla Glass 5 and the frame is aluminium to keep weight and sturdiness in check. Only the international T-Mobile variant comes with IP68 water and dust Protection but the global variant gets no such claims. Rubber gaskets do tell us that this phone can handle some splashes and dirt easily. Weighing a little over 200gms, this is a two-handed phone.
Charging – There’s a healthy 5000mAh battery with a bundled 80W SuperVOOC charger, Oppo is the parent company so that’s a borrowed tech but arguably a better addition, especially in a world where Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, etc have stopped providing chargers in the box. The phone also features fast wireless charging up to 50w and reverse wireless charging with USB power delivery to power other devices via the Type C port.
Specs – Powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, blazing-fast RAM and UFS 3.1 Gen1 storage, this phone is a creme-de-la-creme of smartphone processing power. Gaming or multitasking is a breeze and a pleasure with a relatively long-lasting 5000mAh battery. What also aids gaming is the 480Hz touch sampling, making every input free lag-free and instant. Relatively low thermal throttles also inspire long gaming sessions.
Connectivity – There are multiple 5G bands supported. There’s also WiFi 6 along with 802.11 AX dual-band Wi-Fi support and something too obvious is Wi-Fi Direct with Bluetooth 5.2 with all its goodies.NFC – NFC enables a lot of ease when it comes to connectivity. One can tap to pay, share Wi-Fi passwords and connections, use Android Beam to share files between devices, touch to connect Bluetooth speakers and with NFC tags, the world of creativity is at your disposal.
Camera – Triple camera setup, a useful one with all cameras enhanced by Hasselblad algorithms. 2D – Second generation of P – phone camera with 50T – triple camera setup featuring a 50MP 150-degree field of view ultra-wide camera. Photos from all sensors 48MP primary with OIS, 50MP ultra-wide and 8MP telephoto camera with 3.3x optical zoom are neutral in colour with sometimes underexposed clicks but videos are super amazing with up to 8K 24fps shooting on the rear primary camera setup and only 1080p on the front 32MP selfie shooter. There’s 4k video capability with 30,60 and 120fps modes on the primary camera, 4k 60fps on the ultra-wide camera and 1080p 60fps on the telephoto camera.
As compared to the similar Samsung shot from an S21 FE, the camera performs almost at par but misses the Samsung vibrancy. Low light images and videos are impressive and evolution for OnePlus as a smartphone maker. One thing to note is that the new ultra-wide sensor gets no autofocus and also cannot double as a macro camera as its predecessor OnePlus 9 Pro. But there’s a fisheye mode that makes your photos and videos look like you shot from a Go-Pro camera.
Software – Oxygen OS now looks like it was adopted by Color OS of Oppo. It still gets no ads and Oxygen OS customisation suite but then again, there are reminisce of Oppo’s dominance here and there across the UI. Oh, it runs Android 12 based on Oxygen OS 12.1.
Choices – Available in two colours – Volcano Black, Emerald Green and an exclusive Glaciar White colour not sold in India. Also, it comes in two setups – 8GB RAM with 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. If you are considering this device, do not get the 128GB variant, games, apps, and cameras take up a lot of internal space.
Is it worth buying? – Priced over 60k and almost 70+k for the 256GB variant, this phone tries to compete with the top dogs of smartphone nirvana. At this price, the OnePlus 10 Pro enters a category of devices that do many things better than the 10 Pro while providing a whole new dimension to the flagship smartphone experience. If the price gets sweeter by 10K via deals, etc. or if you do consider shelling out this amount of money, products like the Samsung Galaxy S22, Apple iPhone 13, newest Asus ROG phone and many others look like a whole lot of value for money, don’t they!
Vivo has recently launched their T phone series in India and T1 5G is the first product under its wing. The base variant of Vivo T1 5G costs 14,990, 6GB+128GB costs Rs 15,990, and you can buy the 8GB variant for Rs 18,990. The device will be available online only and the sale will go live from 14th February. Check out the unboxing and first impression of Vivo T1 5G.
All new design ideology can be seen on the Kia Carens
The Indian buyer’s growing obsession for SUV’s has flooded the market with 6 and 7 seater family haulers. With almost every automaker in the country trying to cater and please the big fat Indian families with their offerings, Kia isn’t falling back.
To bridge this segment’s gap, Kia unveiled its new three-row offering for the Indian market, the Carens, in December last year. The Carens made its global debut in India, and incidentally, the country will also be its sole manufacturing hub for both domestic and export purposes.
The wrap around tail lights look upmarket
The Kia Carens is based on a stretched platform of the Creta/Seltos, similar to the Hyundai Alcazar. Dimensionally, the Carens measures 4,540mm in length, 1,800mm in width, 1,700mm in height and has a wheelbase of 2,780mm.
Now if you compare it to the Seltos, the Carens is 225mm longer and 80mm taller, while the wheelbase is 160mm longer. The Carens also fares brownie points as it is longer, wider and taller than even the Alcazar, that measures 4,500mm in length, 1,790mm in width, 1,675mm in height. Even the wheelbase is greater than the Alcazar’s 2,760mm. In fact, the Carens has the longest wheelbase in this segment, which is 30mm longer than the Toyota Innova Crsyta too, although the Toyota is longer when it comes to overall length. The dimensions certainly point to a spacious interior.
Kia Carens: Exterior design
What’s it like to look from the outside?
Kia is calling the design ideology as coming together of 2 different worlds apart. And it actually makes sense as Kia is neither placing it as an MPV, nor as an SUV, but what exactly are they categorizing it? A recreational vehicle.
The new Kia Carens in all its glory
The Kia Carens has a very distinctively striking presence to say the least. It has the proportions of an MPV, but also gets several styling elements to make it look like an SUV. Starting up front, the front facia is characterized by a striking split-LED headlamp assembly and a sealed off grille that is housed within a contrasting gloss piano back trim. The signature Kia tiger nose grille has moved down to the lower lip of the bumper giving space for a new chrome garnish. The grille even features some gnarled effects and 3D patterns on the brushed silver insert for some added bling. Down below, the front bumper is more sedately styled, although the gaping central air intake does add some character. In fact, Kia’s signature ‘Tiger Nose’ motif is now featured on the bumper and not on the grille, although very subtly.
The LED DRLS are said to be inspired by constellations and hence a unique futuristic design adorns the front. I wonder how many stars it would pack inside. The crown jeweled LED headlamps are sleek and futuristic with the three slot design even carried in the LED fog-lamps which lend a distinctive visual edge through sleek and avant-garde design.
Move to the side and it has a very MPV’ish silhouette. Generous amount of chrome has been used to fancy the Indian buyers. A chrome strip running all the way from the front window sill and wrapping around at the third quarter glass sections lends it an upmarket appearance. Though the R16 crystal cut alloy wheels have a nice design, they look a tad bit small considering the proportions of this car. In my opinion, a size up would definitely make a huge difference.
From the side profile, the Carens shows resemblance to the Seltos until the front doors, though the rear doors are much longer and it also gets a larger rear quarter window area. Strong character lines that start from the headlamps, blend into the doors and then emerge at the rear to meet the tail-lamps. At the rear, the Carens gets a pair of wrap-around LED tail-lamps which look like they have been borrowed from the Sonet. The rear windshield can be seen slightly raked and also houses an integrated spoiler. Akin to the front, the rear bumper is also aggressively styled with chrome garnish inserts. The raised ground clearance and the upright stance due body cladding all around lends it a pretty masculine look.
Kia Carens: Interior design
How does it feel from the inside?
In its typical fashion, the interior of the Kia Carens is very well laid with premium-looking materials and a well appointed dashboard. Use of multiple colors for the interior trim like Triton navy and Sahel beige, makes the cabin feel dramatic and lively to sit inside. A big slab of piano black is thrown onto the dash with gnarled effects and a brushed metal strip flows down below. Something which might bother the consumers is that the dash might pick up dust and fingerprints pretty easily and it would be a hassle to maintain it clean and shining bright.
Notice the different color interior trims which jazz up the cabin
The interior also has a clean, layered effect with everything positioned for better reach. The infotainment system is neatly integrated in the dash. Giving it a premium touch. There’s even some fine detailing on the dashboard trim and on the door panels, adding some jazz to the interior.
Below the top-half, the AC vents have been integrated seamlessly along the width of the interior. The AC control unit gets a feather-touch panel with toggle switches for operating the climate controls, with the ambient lighting panel underlining all of this.
Ventilated seats and different driving modes for the AT variant.
The 64 color options for the ambient light makes the cabin feel more upmarket and lends the Carens a premium feel inside. The center console is short and stubby and features additional controls for seat ventilation, drive modes, etc. The Carens will be available in both 6- and 7-seat configurations, with the former getting captain seats for the second row.
The touchscreen in fluid and well responsive to use
Generous amount of cubby spaces in all the nooks and corners allows for ample storage of nick-nacks. Infact, all the doors get 3 bottle holders and small pockets to keep phones or other stuff. The front doors even have dedicated slots for keeping umbrellas during the rainy season.
Now you don’t have a panoramic sunroof because of the roof mounted AC vents for the 2nd and 3rd row, but you do get a single unit sunroof , just in case!
The second row boss seat features a one-touch tumble down function for easy ingress and egress to the third row. A fold up table and an air purifying module are housed behind the front seats. All in all you get 6 USB (5 C-type) ports to charge your devices.
Captain seats for the second row makes the cabin feel more roomier
Considering the sheer size of the Kia Carens, stepping in and out is not much of a hassle and hence, it will be comfortable even for senior citizens in your family. The seats though are a bit on the narrower side, but provide good under thigh support for easing the longer journeys.
Third row seats are considerably more comfortable
Now the extended wheelbase makes enough room even for the third row and for sure it is one of the best in its segment. Not just kids, but even average sized adults won’t be complaining much about the space at the back.
Notice the gnarled effects on the piano black trim
Kia Carens: Features
What all tech does it pack?
This being a Kia, the equipment list is long and is a big highlight of the Carens. Top-spec variants of the Carens are equipped with a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Kia’s UVO connect. The touch is fluid and well responsive. It also gets a fully digital instrument cluster, an eight-speaker Bose sound system and a multi-function steering wheel with buttons for audio controls, voice commands and calling, similar to the one seen on the Sonet and Seltos.
The air purifying module behind the driver seat
Notably, the Carens also gets roof-mounted AC vents to aid cooling at the rear, which rules out the possibility of a panoramic sunroof. There is a single unit sunroof for the fancy purpose though. Other highlights on the Carens include a 64-color ambient lighting, ventilated front seats, seat-back table with cup holder, electrically powered, one-touch tumble down feature for the second row (first in segment feature) and an air purifier. Kia has particularly stressed on safety features with the Carens as all models get six airbags, ABS, ESC, hill-start assist, disc brakes at all four ends, TPMS and rear parking sensors as standard across all variants.
Kia Carens: Engine and Gearbox options
How well does it drive?
Under the hood, the Carens gets the option of two petrol engines and a diesel engine. The first is a 115 hp, 144 Nm, 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine, which is solely offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox. The 140hp, 242 Nm, 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine comes mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed DCT gearbox.
Lastly, the diesel engine is a 1.5-litre unit which produces 115 hp and 250 Nm of peak torque. It can be opted in either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. These engine-gearbox combinations are the same as the ones that are offered in the Kia Seltos.
The overall drive is pliant and poised. The engine is never in a hurry and delivers a linear performance across the gear ratio range. It feels plush and sturdy at high speeds. Something worth pointing out are the well damped suspensions which can gulp in all the major potholes of city driving and the raised ground clearance allows the vehicle to glide over rough terrain patches.
Safety Features
Dual front Airbags as standard across all variant
ABS & EBD
Front and Reverse Parking Sensors with camera
Seat belt reminder
High speed alert
Hill start assist
Hill Descent control
Electronic Stability control
Front seatbelt pretensioners
Rear disk breaks
Impact sensing auto door unlock
Side and curtain airbags
Tire pressure monitoring system
ISOFIX
Anti theft alarm
Rear wiper and defogger
Rain sensing vipers
Auto headlamps
Kia Connect mobile app.
Functional features
50:50 Third row split
2nd and 3rd row AC vents
Height adjustable drivers seats
2nd row slide and recline
5x USB C-type ports
Ambient lights
Electric second row tumble
Front and rear armrests
3rd row recline
Ventilated front seats
Automatic climate control
LED DRL’s and headlamps
Wireless phone charger
Android Auto and Apple Car-play
Cooled cup-holders
Rear door sun shade
Cruise Control with steering mounted buttons
Push button start stop
To watch the complete first drive review, click here.
To start with, I do not particularly like the hardened cable that stays in one place, but I was pretty surprised by how well Sennheiser 300 sits on my ears. After trying these earphones on, I would not like to change a thing about them, except a few, which we will talk about shortly.
IE 300 has a decent treble response if we talk about the sound signature, but the bass response on these is pretty sick! Infact, bass response is the standout feature of this device and has a very strange texture. You usually get to hear two types of bass responses in headphones. One is similar to the natural bass sound, like an ample drum space being hot by a large stick, and the other is an electronic one, which is artificial but more powerful. IE 300 has a more natural texture to it but is supremely strong. I recommend buying it if you have an ear for the particular tuning.
Remember that these earphones cost around Rs 30,000 and is not for a regular headphone user. The device is specially designed for audiophiles who give music their all. Inside the box, you get different sets of earphone tips – silicon, foam and E types; and a soft case for keeping your earphones safe. These earphones are much more expensive than the entry-level ones but promise an experience that capitalises on the benefits of high-resolution audio streaming.
The body is completely made up of plastic, with each earpiece weighing around 4gms. The included hard cable is detachable, uses a standard MMCX connector, and has a 3.5 mm plug for the incoming audio signal.
I like these earphones because they give gentle, cheerful beats, and the vocals and instruments all sound distinct and full-bodied. I could listen to all the elements in track as it was meant to be heard.
However, the downer for IE 300 is that it lacks the microphone feature. If you receive a call when your earphones are plugged in, you’ll probably have to plug it out.
Let’s get one thing straight; We are part of a generation whose entire life is dedicated to social media, so much so that it is now hard to differentiate between the reel and the real.
It was Facebook that changed the game of how we interact with random people on the Internet. It put everybody in a simulation where people could upload their pictures and talk to each other without being physically present.
It was on this turn where people started disassociating themselves from reality. The beginning! I am actually quite appreciative of the vision and deft execution. Still, we cannot dismiss the fact that it puts everyone in a cocoon where everyone would be too discomforted and afraid to just come out of it over time.
Zuckerberg’s social juggernaut ingrained itself into the daily lives of the end-users in a way that its contemporaries like Twitter or MySpace could only imagine.
Social networking is a grey space, so we would be differentiating between the blacks and the whites. Let’s first know the advantages.
Pros of Social Media Networking
Adopted a new puppy? Wedding announcement? Birth announcement? Started dating? Graduated? Got yourself into your dream college? Just slap an Instagram post, and we all know in a second that you made it.
Another thing that social media has done well is that it has made almost everyone inclusive. Social Media has made youngsters more aware and vocal about the inequalities and injustices that surround our society. This generation refuses to accept the stereotypes and gender norms that have been served to us for ages. Since everyone can now put their opinions on a single or different platform, it gives people the confidence to be comfortable in their skin and identity.
It got convenient for people of different colours or sexuality to voice their experiences through articles or videos and gather an entire community to stand with them during those tough times. Before the introduction of social media, people would pretty much live in the closet and would be disdained for their unwanted or ‘alien’ preferences. Not saying that we are absolutely over those demons, but we have come a long way in taming them.
Social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat have allowed a variety of content to be shared by people. There is literally everything on Youtube. The other day I came across a video where a person was teaching his viewers’ how to pick up a chair.’ YES! How to pick up a chair! I mean, pretty sweet and brave of him to share his talent, but this gives you enough idea why you would never run short on content with these sharing platforms around.
Social media makes our lives less dramatic if we think about it. Imagine meeting your childhood friend in your late 30s. You will be overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions seeing your friend after so long. Facebook, along with other social platforms, reduced that gap superlatively. It can be your childhood friend, college roommates who drifted away, former teachers who served as inspirations; they are all just one search away, and we are much better updated about their lives than we would have been without such platforms. Social media platforms allow us to keep people close to us that we would instead not call at any given time of the day.
Another reason why social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram are useful tools in today’s era is that they keep people more aware politically. With millions of websites and pages, it is nearly impossible for a politician to commit a crime or say something objectionable and get away with it without having it blogged or shared in video format.
Earlier, people would buy anything and everything that the market offered them. We presently live in a hyper-competitive market. There are so many brands offering the same set of products that it’s hard to figure out what would be the best choice for yourself. Having a platform has enabled people to voice their opinions about these brands, positively or negatively, which has compelled these brands to be more customer-centric rather than inclining more towards profits. Word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire on social media!
Cons of Social Media Networking
There are always two sides to every story. One can not go down the positive lane for long without having some thorns along the way. And when the road is so big, there are more chances of unrest. We listed some positive aspects of social media. Here are some of the negative pointers that this generation has to go through due to excessive networking.
We just talked about how we are now connected with people that we haven’t seen in ages; some school or college friends, a few teachers that we dearly admire and so on. But have you ever thought about how negatively this impacts your conversations?
Suppose you have not seen your friend for over ten years, but you have every update of his daily life through Facebook. One fine day when everyone decides to have a reunion, you would stand around and say, ‘So how did the doctor’s appointment go yesterday?’ The point is, you wouldn’t feel the same emotions and would probably lack honest conversations because you are quite used to his virtual presence.
Social media makes you sad. No, this is not something that I ‘believe’, rather it has been reported lately. The latest study by the Wall Street Journal suggested that Instagram negatively impacts mental health, body image, and more for teenagers. Thirty per cent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.
The reason behind this is the process that we have been following for a long time and what has been fed to us by these platforms as a form of ‘entertainment.’ I came across a trend on Instagram a few days back, which involved people applying a filter on their faces that read, ‘This filter shows what your face would look like if it was perfect.’ And people have been using that like there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you let a filter decide the ‘perfect’ for you, then it is understandable why teens doubt their beauty.
We have to understand that everyone on these social platforms posts the best side of themselves, and if they feel they don’t have that, they take the help of filters. I wouldn’t ever put up a picture of myself in dreadful clothes munching on some food like it’s my last supper, but it is much likely for me to post in a fine dine that I might regret later for spending too many bucks. These ‘good-time’ pictures impel a viewer to consider his life as an absolute train-wreck.
Allow me to make myself a little more clear. I am nowhere suggesting that one should not live their life to the fullest or do a little brag about having a lovely time. I can’t be a judge of that. But I feel that one should understand very clearly that people create a blanket on social media and hide their demons under them. The bottom line is, we all have our demons.
Now let’s hit the political part of social networking sites. People have indeed been more aware of their leaders since almost everything is on the Internet now. But do you believe what you see? Is there a possibility that you have been deceived all along? A recent report suggests so. Facebook has been under a lot of scrutinies for pushing hate speeches on its platform and not adequately curbing the misinformation and inflammatory posts.
Social media channels as big as Facebook have the potential to control what people see on their walls through well-structured algorithms. You would never know if something you see is legit or if false information is being fed to you. This leads to violence and hate between communities, races, etc., often benefitting the politicians and leaders in power.
Another snag of using social media too much is the decreasing attention span of youngsters. We are so used to swiping content continuously that anything which needs time and attention gets skipped. What was the last time you read a whole newspaper? Did you skip a big chunk of this article too? If the answer is yes, you now know why!
Being an Indian, we all know Honda mainly because of their joint venture with Hero MotoCorp Limited, which started in 1984 as Hero Honda Motors Limited and was terminated by December 2010. Though the Minato, Tokyo, headquartered Japanese company separated itself from Hero MotoCorp Limited, it successfully maintained its business in the country by launching different automobiles and motorcycles.
How Does Honda Begin its Journey?
The engineer and automobile fanatic Soichiro Honda took over an old factory that mainly couched in ruins from wartime bombings in 1946 and founded Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan. In a tiny space of 170 sq ft. and with only 12 employees, he built small, efficient internal combustion engines and sold customised bicycles with attached motors. Since childhood, Soichiro was a dreamer and interested in automobiles, and to fulfill his passion, he started working as a mechanic during his youth at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars and entered them into races using his friend’s garage.
The Honda Technical Research Institute was incorporated as Honda Motor Company in 1948 and commenced producing motorcycles in 1949. Soon, the newly founded Honda hired a marketing specialist Takeo Fujisawa, who provided requisite business and marketing expertise to complement Soichiro Honda’s technical propensity. Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa co-founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd, where Soichiro controlled the engineering and product development while Takeo managed the financial side of the company. The hardworking duo took the company from a small manufacturer of bicycle engines to a worldwide car manufacturer.
How Does Honda Shot to Fame in the World?
Honda shot to fame within a decade of its establishment and became the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. Thanks to the Honda C-100, a small-engine motorcycle introduced in 1953, and by 1959, it was the largest-selling motorcycle in the world. Since its foundation, the company has manufactured over 400 million motorcycles and has produced more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year, earning the position of the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume. The company began manufacturing automobiles in 1963, and the first automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck.
The Concept of a “People’s Car”
A four-seater with a top speed of 100 km/h and an affordable price was the summary of the concept of building people’s car in the early ’60s. Honda followed the outline and unveiled the Honda S360 sports car, on June 5, 1962, during the 11th National Honda Meeting General Assembly held at Suzuka Circuit. Later on, the company launched its first production car and first passenger automobile, the Honda S500 sports car, which entered production in October 1963.
Further growth in the Automobile world
Honda Motor Company established a United States subsidiary, the American Honda Motor Company, for manufacturing motorcycles and automobiles in the United States. In 2001, Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer after Toyota, a major car manufacturing company that bought Soichiro Honda’s highly automated product in 1941 to utilise unskilled workers to produce high-quality piston rings. According to the OICA report, in 2017, Honda was the 7th largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
Honda in India
Outside the Japanese boundaries, Honda is known for its joint ventures, especially in India, where it partnered with Hero Group and started its operations in 1984 by forming the joint venture Hero Honda Motors Limited. Hero Honda launched a four-stroke bike with a popular advertising campaign based on the tag line- “Fill it, Shut it, Forget it”. The campaign did a miracle for the new joint venture, and the newly formed brand took the market by storm.
The Hero Honda Splendor and Hero Honda Passion were two of the best-selling motorcycles from the brand, which worked brilliantly in Indian conditions and were best suited for the Indian psyche. In 2001, the joint venture became the second largest two-wheeler manufacturing company in India and globally but unfortunately, in December 2010, the board of directors of Hero Honda Motors Limited had decided to terminate the joint venture due to rising differences between the two partners.
After termination, both the companies started operating differently and soon became rivals. Hero Group renamed the company from Hero Honda Motors Limited to Hero MotoCorp Limited on 29 July 2011 and began exporting their motorcycles to Latin America, Africa and West Asia. Currently, Hero MotoCorp Limited is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and even globally, but during the joint venture times, Hero Group mainly relied on their Japanese counterpart Honda for the technology in their bikes.
Besides motorcycles, Honda also has a division of Automobiles in India, Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), which was established in 1995 as a joint venture called Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI). The automobile division’s first manufacturing plant in Greater Noida started operations in 1997 and manufactures about 100,000 units annually. The second plant in India is at Tapukara in the Alwar District of Rajasthan, spread over 450 acres of land. The Japanese carmaker has 371 dealership outlets across 121 cities in 20 states and 3 Union Territories in India. The current models are Honda City, Honda Jazz, Honda Amaze and Honda WR-V, while the discontinued models are Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Brio, Honda Mobilio and Honda BR-V.
Honda Marketing Strategies
Every good company focuses on its marketing strategies as it helps the brand create products and services with the best chances for making a profit, and over the several decades, Honda had some fantastic marketing and advertising campaigns, be it a Honda Accord campaign with a tagline, “Isn’t it nice when things just… work?” or a humour-based commercial where a casual-looking man knocks on a TV screen and says, “I’m Mr. Opportunity, and I’m knockin,” Honda had done it all. Besides strategic marketing and advertising of their major products, Honda sells genuine accessories through a separate retail chain called Honda Access for their motorcycle, scooter, and automobile products, which helps the company gain more profits.
3 Unique Things About Honda Cars
Resale Value
Indian buyers usually examine the fuel efficiency & resale value while purchasing a new car, and Honda has a lot to offer in these two sections. Honda cars have a tremendous resale market due to their high reliability, and a well-maintained Honda car can make up to 60-70% of the original value, or at least 50% as a minimum.
Features & Safety
Japanese and German automobile technology is always a step ahead of the world. Being a Japanese automobile manufacturer, Honda never disappoints us with advanced tech and always provides reliable features at an affordable price. About safety, it is one of the essential factors and cannot be ignored. Honda cars pay full attention and effort to make every car safe, and most of their cars have a 4-5 star NCAP test rating.
VTEC Engines
VTEC is a system developed and introduced by Honda back in 1989 to improve the volumetric efficiency of a four-stroke internal combustion engine. It stands for Variable Timing & Lift Electronic Control and provides outstanding driving dynamics that helps the car to dance at the user’s fingertips. The Indian Honda’s get i-VTEC, which offers more fuel efficiency, allows users to endure the world of rising fuel prices.
Leaving Blue Skies for Our Children
Honda is committed to proactive environmental conservation activities and had set a target in 2011 to slice CO2 emissions from its global products by 30 per cent by the end of 2020, and they’ve achieved it successfully. The Slogan’ Blue Skies for Our Children’ expresses the company’s proactive commitment to improving the environment worldwide. Driven by the rallying cry of “blue skies for our children,” Honda engineers created a groundbreaking CVCC engine that made the Honda Civic the first vehicle to meet the strict emissions standards of the new United States Clean Air Act without using a catalytic converter.
Netflix’s dark, heavily dramatic, anti-hero lead show YOU recently returned for a third season with a bang, and like the previous two seasons, the third season quickly became one of the most discussed shows on Netflix. The show’s first two seasons featured the relentlessly creepy-stalker Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and were packed with all the right ingredients required for a psychological thriller, but season 3 brings a new setting to the show.
Yes, season 3 of YOU takes us to an entirely new place called Madre Linda, a fictional town in the California suburb as Joe and his equally bloodthirsty wife Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) decide to escape the hustle and bustle of New York and Los Angeles to deliver a better future to their newborn. However, in a nosy suburb, it gets hard for Joe and Love to stay unnoticed by the people, which puts the season’s suspense on the top tier.
In season three, Joe is not operating alone as he used to in the last two seasons. Now, he has a companion to help him with the aftermath of the killing, which shifts the fundamental geometry of how the show works. The stalker-narrated murder drama shows Love to be even more erratic than Joe, keeping up the thrill of the show. The third season features the continuation of Joe’s fraught relationship with Love and, of course, a lot of slayings in the neighbourhood.
The bizarre third season of the show manages to pull us into Joe and Love’s world of hatred, revenge and power politics by crafting an ironic take on a suburban murder mystery. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season as Joe is not satisfied with the love of his life and is going to look for ‘the one’ in the next one. So, until Mr Joe Goldberg shows up again with a new twisted murder story, watch these 5 breathtaking shows to feed your thrilling hunger.
Bates Motel
Platform – Peacock
Seasons – 5
In YOU, Joe Goldberg has created almost the same level of magic as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) but with multiple twists, misleads and surprises. The show depicts Joe having a tough life growing up but didn’t converge more on why he turned up as into a psychopath. Meanwhile, Bates Motel, which is based on the storyline of the iconic horror film Psycho, shows how Norman Bates grew up to become a serial killer. The show has a similar theme to YOU, and fans will see shades of Joe’s relationship with his mother in Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Norma’s (Vera Farmiga) connection, where Norman is dealing with constant manipulation that leaves him wanting independence and turns him into a serial killer.
Mindhunter
Platform – Netflix
Seasons – 2
David Fincher is a modern-day master filmmaker of dark, moody and disturbing films. He debuted on an OTT platform with a hit show, House of Cards, the first TV show produced by a studio for Netflix. Later on, he produced and directed a few episodes of a masterpiece called Mindhunter, a show based on a non-fiction crime book titled Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Fans of YOU will enjoy the dark theme, unsettling characters and gripping suspense of Mindhunter that stars Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the lead. The show is set in the 70’s/80’s and revolves around two special agents of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit who try to get into and understand the brains of notorious serial killers, including Ed Kemper, Charles Manson, and the Son of Sam.
Dexter
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 8
Dexter, one of the oldest crime thriller TV shows, is set to hit screens with a new season, Dexter: New Blood. The celebrated TV series’s titular character, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), acts and functions similar to YOU’s charming and brilliant Joe Goldberg. Like Joe, Dexter, too, believes in strategies and planning that always help him stay 10 steps ahead to protect himself and predict the worst. Dexter, who plays the role of a forensic technician by day and serial killer by night in the show, is very much senior to Joe. He has survived eight seasons dodging the law, defending his actions, and even successfully raising a family while still being a murderer. If you love YOU, you’re going to see a massive bit of Joe in every move of Dexter.
Hannibal
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 3
The Silence of the Lambs is probably one of the best psychological horror films made in Hollywood, and its lead character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter, is the scariest character we’ve ever witnessed in Hollywood movies. Hannibal is an American psychological horror-thriller television series that runs on NBC, and its lead, Dr Hannibal Lecter, has an ability to fool everyone around him, very relevant to Joe Goldberg. The NBC series focuses on the complex but emotional relationship between the brilliant psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the FBI criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). Together they trace complex serial killers by thinking like a serial killer, but Hannibal has something mysterious that Will is unaware of.
Killing Eve
Platform – Hulu
Seasons – 3
We have seen women playing the role of a psychopath in very few Hollywood films, but when they did, they did it with full passion. Kathy Bates and Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress by playing the roles of a psychopath in Misery (1990) and Monster (2003), respectively. The Emmy award-winning spy series, Killing Eve, is one such show that depicts similarities with Joe Goldberg’s YOU. The British spy thriller follows a wild game of cat and mouse between psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and badass British intelligence investigating officer Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh). The 3-season Hulu series is binge-worthy and will remind Joe’s obsessive love-hate relationship throughout YOU.
