Life of Pi - The journey of a pious young man.

My Rating - 8.5/10

There is simply nothing that you will hate about this movie. Although the book was deemed 'unfilmable' by many, Ang Lee surprisingly delivers us with an enthralling cinematic experience. Yes, maybe the story is quite flat but at the same time it is allegorical. It gives us a whole new perspective on a young man's journey towards finding God. It also shows us what solitary confinement can do to humans. Suraj Sharma and Adil Sharma did their parts superbly and as usual one of my favourite Indian actor, Irrfan Khan doesn't disappoint at all. Life of Pi shows us the artistic side of cinema. Its wonderful visuals and sensational 3D effects are a treat for our eyes. The thing that amused me the most was Ang Lee's direction. The camera angles used in the movie were out of this world. From the scene of the whale diving out of a jellyfish smack to the shipwreck scene, everything is close to perfection. The different angles through which Ang Lee has shown us different amusing angles of the boat in which Pi travels, the reflection of the sky in the still water and the beautiful sunset scenery, every scene is distinct and unique in its own way. If you ask a photographer he would tell you how good the camera angles were. Personally the angles were good enough to be compared with Stanley Kubrick's angles in the 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apart from that there is a bit of intelligent humour along with an inspiring background score which stands out. With that kind of direction this movie definitely awaits an Oscar. To end this I would say - If you haven't seen this movie while you're alive, well you shouldn't be alive. I will be leaving you with a set of pictures from the movie that might possibly justify why I am constantly praising the direction.

Why opting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus over the LG Nexus 4 might not be such a bad idea after all!

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus(Left) and the LG Nexus 4(Right)

It has been a whole year since the Samsung Galaxy Nexus was released. Straightaway it took the Android world with a storm. It set a benchmark for quality smartphones. Although high end smartphones like Galaxy S2 were pretty established by then but with its sleek look and the then latest version of Android (ICS), the Galaxy Nexus took the smartphone experience to a different level. Now finally almost a year later, Google unveiled its successor by the name of LG Nexus 4. The latest device is without a shadow of doubt much more powerful and desirable than the older one, but the question is that "Is the upgrade really required?" Before I put in my points let me just make it clear that here I am not saying that the Galaxy Nexus is better than Nexus 4, I am trying to point out that even after a year it can win dogfights from most of the smartphones available in the market.

Lets start by discussing about the external built of the smartphones. Both of the phones have almost identical screen sizes. The only difference being that the G Nex sports a 720p Super AMOLED display which provides vivid and brighter colours than the Nexus 4, which has a True HD IPS Plus display whose specialty lies in providing more natural colours. Viewing photos and videos(especially movies) is a joy on the G Nex because of the darker colours while the experience is pretty similar on the Nexus 4 but according to The Verge's Joshua Topolsky, the colours seem a bit washed out. Both have almost similar ppi so there is nothing much to compare there. The LG Nexus 4 beats the G Nex all hands down when it comes to the build quality. Even though the G Nex is a very and probably one of the sturdiest device it does not come near the amazing build quality of the Nexus 4. The LG Nexus 4 with its glass back (although there is always a risk of cracking it) and the jazzy chatoyance effect is much much better than the plastic body of the G Nex (Its a Samsung device so its obvious). The difference in the externals of the phone is separated by a pretty thin line. Certainly the Nexus 4 is better but the Galaxy Nexus is not far away from it either. And in all probabilities I believe that both the devices are the most beautiful android smartphones ever built.

The camera on the Galaxy Nexus is a 5mp Full HD camera but isn't very impressive. It is good for average daily usage but for someone who is addicted to clicking pictures every now and then (especially teenagers in bathrooms, however those idiots would buy an iPhone and not Nexus) it is just not good enough. The camera on the 8mp camera on the Nexus 4 is a huge improvement and it gets even better with the new camera interface of Android 4.2. It can also click HDR images. Its camera may not be as good as the other high end smartphone cameras but it is still a very strong competitor.

Moving on to the real deal now - the internal specifications. On paper the Nexus 4 whitewashes the specs of the G Nex. But then when we see in practical life, the specs are much more than what we require. I mean to say that the specifications of the Galaxy Nexus is as good as anything. With its 1.2ghz dual core processor combined with 1 gig of RAM, G Nex runs almost every application and game flawlessly. It also plays full hd 1080p videos without dropping a single frame and I think one could not just ask for more than that. Quad cores are hardly developed in computers let alone in smartphones. And Intel GM Mike Bell says that multi core processors are wasted on android to such an extent that it might be detrimental. When the world's largest and most successful  chip maker says it, you have no other option than listening to him. The LG Nexus 4 has a 1.5ghz quad core processor which will handle tasks as easily as applying butter on bread but so does the Galaxy Nexus. The 2 gigs of RAM in the LG Nexus is quite nice as it lets you to keep more apps running however it is also of very less use in real life. The LG Nexus 4 was introduced along with the latest Android version namely JellyBean 4.2. People might think it is an advantage but the Galaxy Nexus will be receiving the update as well. With all its powerful specifications the LG Nexus 4 is future proof but then it is safe to say that it is a smartphone that the world deserves but not the one it needs.

The LG Nexus 4 might be 10 times more revamped version of the Galaxy Nexus, but the latter has enough strength left in it that opting for it won't be a bad deal at all (as we all know that Nexus smartphones are very long lasting). Provided I asked the dealer in Mumbai and he says that the Galaxy Nexus has a good resale value. So if you have a budget of around 20k just order a Galaxy Nexus without showing even a wee bit of concern because even if the Nexus 4 does come to India, it will cost you nothing less than 30k. The Galaxy Nexus might not be as good as the Nexus 4 on paper but its specifications are still good enough that you can keep using it for another 4 - 4.5 years without any serious reasons to change.

Thank You for reading. If you think that buying the Nexus 4 makes more sense then please mention it in comments!