T3 India

Smart Home

Samsung’s Largest Premium Experience Store Opens in Telangana

by

Samsung India has inaugurated its largest Premium Experience Store in Telangana at the Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad, and announced attractive offers on select Galaxy devices. The new store highlights Samsung’s entire product ecosystem through exciting zones around Samsung’s connected ecosystem SmartThings, smartphones, laptops, audio, gaming, and lifestyle televisions. The store also has a Bespoke DIY Customisation Zone where consumers can personalise their smartphones, tabs and covers with accessories, including ones with local Hyderabad flavour.

The store is located in the new premium wing of the popular Inorbit Mall in the Cyberabad area of Hyderabad, which has emerged as a hub of Gen Z and millennials in recent years.

At the store, Samsung will host a variety of Galaxy workshops under ‘Learn @ Samsung’ for tech savvy consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials. This will include workshops around consumer passion points such as digital art, doodling, photography, videography, fitness, cooking, coding, music as well as events around the culture and ethos of the city. Spread across 3,500 sq ft of space, the store will also host a variety of entertainment activities with special focus on local culture, music, and art, offering a Samsung experience customised to the city of Hyderabad.

Consumers coming into the store will get assured gifts, 2X loyalty points on purchase of select Samsung products and Galaxy Buds2 at INR 2,999 with select Galaxy devices in the first week after launch. In addition, consumers can also avail always-on special benefits such as student discounts of up to 10 percent on smartphones, tabs, laptops and smartwatches, up to 22.5 percent cashback and INR 22,000 in additional benefits.

“We are excited to bring the next-gen Premium Experience Store to our consumers in Hyderabad. Our aim is to connect the diverse local community with the best of Samsung technology. We have tailored unique experiences through zones such as Samsung SmartThings, Gaming and Bespoke DIY Customisation, designed especially for Gen Z consumers,” said Sumit Walia, Senior Director, Samsung India.

“Moreover, to engage our young consumers through their passion points, we will also host ‘Learn @ Samsung’ workshops. These workshops will focus on varied consumer interests such as digital art, doodling, photography, videography, fitness, cooking, coding and music, among others,” he added.

The newly launched store offers a next-generation larger-than-life experience of Samsung products alongside a one-of-a-kind experience to young gaming enthusiasts with a dedicated gaming zone that showcases premium range of smart monitors – Odyssey Ark.

Samsung aims to provide a ‘phygital’ experience for consumers visiting the new store through Samsung’s Store+ endless aisle platform. With Store+, consumers will be able to browse Samsung products with over 1,200 options across its portfolio, whether available online or in store, using a digital Kiosk. Consumers can also order online from the store and have the products delivered home directly.

They can also access Samsung’s digital lending platform Samsung Finance+ and Samsung’s device care plan Samsung Care+ for Galaxy smartphones, tablets and smartwatches, in addition to hassle-free after-sales service for their smartphones and book service calls for their consumer electronics products at home.

A Simple 5-step Path to Setting up a Home Theatre: Audio POV

by

Over the last year, the importance of quality home entertainment has increased. To better understand the impact 2020 has had on entertainment, Dolby conducted a consumer study with Wakefield Research, which revealed that Indian consumers are prioritizing and seeking better experiences possibly driven by long hours spent at home. Indian consumers are spending more on quality to better connect with content—and to connect with each other.

There was a clear shift in consumer preference for premium content experiences. Consumers are willing to invest in premium quality content and in devices and are being able to have an enhanced audio and visual experience. The study reveals that 94% of consumers in India are willing to pay more for a premium subscription for enhanced video & audio quality, whereas 96% of them will upgrade their entertainment equipment in the span of the next 6 months.

There is a variety of equipment available in the market, depending upon one’s budget, area, and technology upgrade. Many of us hear “home theatre” and think of soundproof rooms, cushioned seats, and a large screen. However, building a home theatre does not need to break a bank.

Whether you want to upgrade the audio in your living room or invest in a full home cinema set-up, here are our recommendations to ensure you get a seamless entertainment experience.

Space Optimisation

Where you plan to set up your system can dictate what you will need. If you have a fairly large room, invest in a home theatre system but for a smaller room, you could go with a soundbar with a sub-woofer.

If you are doing up a big room and want surround sound with a theatre experience, go for a 5.1 or 7.1 channel surround sound system. This has 5 or 7 separate speakers, including a centre speaker, and an audio-video receiver or home theatre. For an immersive experience, get a Dolby Atmos-enabled sound system.

Large speakers can overwhelm a small room. Hence, when setting up a home entertainment system in a smaller space, consider getting a Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbar.

Another important aspect is to buy a home theatre system that has a Dolby Vision compatible logo. This will pass High Dynamic Range Dolby Vision video through the home theatre to the television and will enable you to enjoy the HDR content.

Allocate the right budget

When you plan the home entertainment system, it is important to understand how to divide your budget. Don’t neglect the speakers. They are a critical component in experiencing great sounding audio. While planning the setup, allocate the bulk of your budget (up to 80%) on speakers and about 20% on the amplifier. Don’t spend large amounts of money on unnecessary features or a very expensive amplifier.

A common misconception is that all home theatre devices which deliver a cinematic experience are expensive. Today, an Indian consumer can find living room audio devices with next-generation object-based immersive audio technology like Dolby Atmos, at various price points that suit the needs of the price and quality conscious Indian consumer.

Choose the right supporting equipment

Video accounts for a major part of the cinema experience. The right television can enhance your entertainment manifold. It is recommended to go with 4K (or UHD) televisions that support Dolby Vision HDR and are Dolby Atmos enabled. Another important consideration is the eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) feature found in most new smart televisions. This enables you to transmit the original full-resolution audio signal back through the HDMI cable to your home theatre or soundbar and reproduce immersive audio without compromise. The home theatre should always be connected to the ARC/ eARC port of the television.

If there is no eARC port available on the television, it may be better to connect your media streaming device (TV stick) directly with the home theatre system for enhanced audio output.

Everything In the Right Place

Nowadays, most home theatre systems and soundbars are easy to plug and play. However, one needs to consider the positioning of the speakers while setting it up. For optimal effect, place your Dolby Atmos enabled speakers at the height of your ears when seated, with no obstructions between you and the speakers.

A soundbar should be placed beneath the television screen. Some Dolby Atmos enabled soundbars have speakers which point upwards and reflect sound off the roof for an enhanced immersive experience. If you have one of these, take care that these speakers don’t get obstructed by the TV. Keep the soundbar below and slightly ahead of the TV.

The Final Touches

The most crucial part after installing a home theatre system is the final alignment of the system. 90% of home theatres have an auto-alignment feature. A small microphone is usually provided, which should be placed at the listening position while running the auto-alignment process. This usually results in optimum quality output. Make sure to keep the listening environment completely silent during the alignment process to guarantee the best results. 

To get the best immersive experience, it is recommended that you stream content in Dolby. Stream your favourite content from Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video or any other streaming service in the unmatched combination of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. People often assume that setting up a home theatre is an overwhelming task, but the key is to get the basics right. Plan it right and enjoy an immersive cinema-like experience in your home

About the Author

Pankaj Kedia is Managing Director for Emerging Markets at Dolby Laboratories and has been with the company since 2009. In his current role, he has developed and executed strategy for growing Dolby’s business across the Emerging Markets region. He has also helped in driving the adoption of Dolby’s technology across the Consumer Entertainment ecosystem. Prior to this, he has worked with Autodesk as their Business and Regional Manager for 11 years. He has an experience of over 25 years in digital entertainment and technology.

Yamaha RX-A4A Aventage is a new AV receiver home-theatre system that transforms viewing

by

“Feel your walls melt away” is what Yamaha’s marketing tagline reads with respect to the all-new RX-A4A which is their latest home-theatre receiver system delivering breath-taking audio and high-quality visuals. The A4A comes packed with smart features and is integrated with AI to boost its performance.  This new 7-channel AVR system belongs to the AVENTAGE series of Yamaha and it strives to deliver high precision

The A4A makes users experience movies and games like never before with its state-of-the-art specs. Users can view or play games at 8K/60Hz or at 4K/120Hz (through a firmware update) that deliver an extremely higher quality of visuals. The gaming-dedicated functions, like ALLM, VRR, QMS, QFT, are all also available through a firmware update. Multiple and updated HDMI inputs support next-gen gaming consoles as well.

The RX-A4A is integrated with Yamaha’s proprietary sound field creation technology – the CINEMA DSP HD3 — which was created by combining ‘measured sound field data with digital signal processing. This means that the audio performance of the RX-A4A enables a realistic experience while viewing different kinds of scenes, which requires different kinds of recreation of sound – whether it is concert halls or a music club. The device analyses the acoustics of the user’s space or room and optimises the parameters of the sound accordingly.

The RX-A4A is powered by the 64-bit Qualcomm QCS407 which transforms the surround sound to the next level with support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Extraordinary signal-to-noise ratio and up to 120 dB of dynamic range for professional quality audio is also delivered through the SABRE ES9007S Premier Audio DAC.

More so, the RX-A4A system is self-sufficient when it comes to protecting its inners from external vibration. This is through the newly-design Anti-Resonance Technology (ART), H-shaped Cross Frame and a mechanical structure. The receiver stays still while delivering a crystal clear sound.

The Yamaha RX-A4A is also integrated with smart features like Alexa and Google Assistant as well. The receiver can be controlled through the users’ smartphones as well from the MusicCast App. The cutting-edge design of the RX-A4A houses a High Slew Rate Amplifier and has a rated output power of 135Watts. The device weighs 16.2 kg and consists of an Auto Power Standby mode, and an ECO mode. Here are the complete specifications of the RX-A4A:

The Yamaha RX-A4A is priced at Rs. 1,29,490.

Tinychef: A Smart App for Today’s Smart Kitchens

by

Tinychef, an AI-based culinary app, was recently in the news for its acquisition of Bangalore based app Zelish. T3 caught up with Bahubali Shete and Asha Shete, Co-Founders of Tinychef, who shared some insights about the app, the acquisition and more.

Give us an idea about Tinychef, the concept and how it all started

Tinychef is an AI-powered culinary app that helps users plan their meals, discover more than 3 million unique recipes, and enable a voice-guided hands-free cooking experience through Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart speakers. The concept is dedicated to the cohorts offering everything from automatic meal planning and conversational cooking to 1-click grocery shopping and works in sync with connected appliances, a perfect assistant for today’s modern kitchen.
We founded Tinychef backed by sheer passion for food and technology and celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor joined as a co-founder to enhance the culinary experience of the platform.

What are the unique features of Tinychef, vis-à-vis other similar platforms?

Since its inception, Tinychef has been envisioned to be a one-stop platform with a complete end-to-end kitchen experience from planning a meal to shopping and cooking while keeping in mind the control over wastage of food and groceries. While most of the other platforms cater to one of the needs, we truly set ourselves apart by offering an integrated solution. These are its five core features:

Search:
With an in-built search engine for everything related to food — from cuisines and recipes to diet preferences and ingredients, there are thousands of options to include in a daily meal.

Plan:
This smart AI-powered planning and meal recommendation feature functions as a 24×7 personal assistant-cum-nutritionist that helps savour curated meal plans every week. Moreover, a user can customise it as per the personalised diet, taste, and cuisine preferences.

Shop:
A user can automate the shopping orders based on meal plans and recipes. Everything one needs for your meals will be served without bothering to browse for ingredients or visit the store.

Cook:
A user can choose from Voice, Text, Video, or Smart Conversation on Alexa and Google Play for step-by-step guidance from some of the most renowned chefs from around the world.

Share:
Tinychef makes collaborating with family and friends easier as one can also share recipes and shop with them. This enhances the experience of a meal together with them, from start to finish.

Connecting Tinychef with smart speakers transforms the kitchen experience completely. Given that the recipes are available on Google Home and Alexa devices, the user can even ask them to add missing ingredients to their cart or handhold while making a new dish at a command.

A connected kitchen is a comparatively new concept in India. Could you elaborate on how this works in the case of Tinychef?

In today’s digitally advanced and fast-paced world it is becoming a mandate to have technology as a part of an accepted global lifestyle that is slowly taking over Indian households too. The concept of a connected kitchen is becoming more popular in India because of the societal changes and affordability compared to a few years ago. Unlike yesteryears, Indian women are not just confined to being a homemaker but also equally are breadwinners to their homes. The modern generation of Indian men and women are sharing their kitchen chores while being absolutely adept and up to date with technology. The availability of smart kitchen appliances helps save time and energy making it so much easier for people to enjoy cooking from home.

How has been the reception to the platform? Could you share some numbers?

Zelish had close to 125,000 users when acquired. The smart speakers see monthly traffic of over 100,000 people.

What has been the biggest change you noticed during the lockdown period?

The idea behind Tinychef was to assist people with the day-to-day complexities from what to cook and grocery shopping to then actually cooking meals beyond the norm. The impact of the pandemic forced people to stay at home that influenced them to experiment in the kitchen furthermore. People were more conscious of safety and diet that led them to advocate home-cooked meals and try new cuisines, even the novice was leaning in on the cook from the home trend. It was the right time for the platform to launch, and it received a great response from the users.

How do you process these ingredient orders? Which cities are currently being serviced? How do you ensure timely delivery?

We have tied up with a national supermarket chain that helps us facilitate delivery. They are a seasoned service provider that takes quality & timeliness pretty seriously. We shall be going live in Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune & Hyderabad

Tell us about the recent acquisition of Zelish and what it brings to the platform.

Saakshi Jain and Rakesh Edavalath, co-founders of Zelish

As a voice and smart speaker solution, Tinychef was looking at expanding itself and collaborate with a like-minded concept to widen the spectrum of daily cooking and kitchen-related problems with the same technology but on a different platform. Zelish, a Bangalore based app, co-founded by Saakshi Jain, Rakesh Edavalath, and Arpit Joseph came across with the same vision and thus Tinychef acquired Zelish to create an extensive conversational app with multiple features such as AI-backed meal planning, automatic grocery list building, one-click grocery shopping, and access to recipes in four different formats.

Looking forward, what other innovations can we expect from the platform?

We are constantly working to upgrade your culinary experience. A couple of features that we just introduced or are working on are:
• Grocery bill scanning feature has been recently introduced to help people plan their meals based on what they shopped.
• We are looking to introduce recipes in different languages.
• Shoppable recipes – ability to shop any recipe on our platform
• We are also actively partnering with celebrity chefs and recipe bloggers to make their recipes shoppable.

Amazon launches the Echo Show 8 with a host of upgrades

by

The Echo Show 8 is a perfect multi-functional companion that helps users manage all smart home appliances that are compatible with Alexa, at one place. With an improved in-built camera, and a better display experience, the Echo Show 8 also delivers a delightful entertainment experience.

The Echo Show 8 is equipped with an 8-inch HD screen with adaptive colour, and dual speakers. It is designed to offer a much more interactive entertainment experience along with providing the users with the ease of streaming their favourite TV series from content providers like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, or their preferred music from apps from Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, JioSaavn, Apple Music, Hungama music or Gaana by simply asking Alexa.

Smart home appliances such as lights, plugs, AC, fans, TV, geyser, and more, that are compatible with Alexa can be set up and controlled easily through the Echo Show 8. For security purposes, remote monitoring of one’s home through live video feed from Echo Show 8’s camera to the user’s smartphone or other Echo Show devices is made possible.   

With a 13MP camera that comes with an ‘Auto Framing’ feature, hands-free video calls through Alexa will ensure that the user and their family is always in frame as the Echo Show 8 will pan and zoom automatically.

Additionally, the Echo Show 8 is designed with multiple layers of privacy protection, including microphone and camera controls, and the ability to view and delete voice recordings. Like other new-generation devices, the Echo Show 8 comes with built-in covers to close the camera.

The Echo Show 8 can set reminders, alarms, pay mobile & electricity bills, get weather updates, bring users the latest news, and more. It can also be used as a digital frame through Facebook photos.

The new Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) is priced at Rs. 13,999 and it will be available at a discounted price of INR 11,499 for a limited time period. It comes in two colour variants: Black and White. For more information, please visit this page.