VC's Gadgets,Gizmos & Fun

Shifting Blog ....

2007-12-09T18:07:00.000+05:30

Hi Techies !! I am gradually shifting my blog to Wordpress ..you can see it here the same TECHIE COCKTAIL

As always your comments are welcome...keep visiting my new blog..and enjoy the various flavors of a techie cocktail......

Rok ur Way

2007-12-04T10:09:00.000+05:30

Ever since I wrote about Moto Ming , I was very impressed about its musical twin Moto Rokr E6. And my buddy HoneyKing, (he has posted photos taken from his mobile so you could check out E6 camera prowess on his blog) who was looking for a good all round phone has currently bought this phone for Rs. 11,000/- (275 $)(without the stereo headphones).

First and foremost, as I said its feature set are 99% similar to Moto Ming. But some of the features which I tried and impressed me most were,

It looks much sleeker and cooler than Moto Ming

It has 3.5mm audio jack to plug your high quality earphones

Music quality is very good, but the inbuilt realplayer is not upto the standards of a SE Walkman 3.0 in the latest SE walkman range

Provided with a 1 GB micro SD card out of the box, and with a mini usb cable it shows a portable drive in your PC, so drag & drop and you are ready to go with your music

It doesnt mean this phone is only fun and no serious stuff, it has a biz card scanner, office doc & pdf viewer, email and a internet browser.

Here are some features which stumped me as well,

I converted a video to a 3GP file (which my K550i would have played) but the real media player said it was a invalid file
Even though its a smartphone (linux based) it had very few customization features.

People who want a combination of multimedia and PDA features and on a limited should definitely try this.And people who had already brought it should visit motorolafans and modmymoto for goodies.

November - Nick Nacks....

2007-11-30T17:50:00.000+05:30

Here are some pics and sms to knock some fun back in to you techies ..njoy :-)

What is the relationship between coffee shop & wine shop? Most of the love start at coffee shop and end at wine shop.

A Little tune can make u sing,
A Little hug can make u feel better,
some little things can make u happy.
Hope my Little "Hi" will make
U "SMILE":-)Good morning..
A famous writer said
"Love" is like a sweet long dream,&"Marriage" is an timing alarm clock,
so have sweet dreams till your alarm wakes you up. Good Night.

Acer 4710 - VFM Laptop

2007-11-26T10:50:00.000+05:30

I have been using a Acer Travel Mate 4152 for 3 years now, I have found it reliable and when I bought it was what you call Value for Money (VFM) buy, so when a friend asked me to suggest a laptop with good specs and which doesnt break his bank account I suggested Acer Aspire 4710.

Now acer has revamped their design to a black exterior with rounded edges, some like it some dont, but according to me its nice and compact.Mind you there is also 4710Z with Intel Dual Core processor T2080/T2130. Here is a quick glance at this 4710 specs,

Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (another model is available with T5300),Intel 945GM
chipset, 1GB DDR2 RAM,160GB HD, 14.1" WXGA TFT, Web cam, Bluetooth, 5 in 1 card
reader, USB port, Firewire port

The keypad was wellspaced out and in grey color, in my mind a pearl white interior would have made it more attractive. I found the 14" widescreen TFT to be Ok, not overly bright, the Dolby certified speakers was quite good but the volume was tad too soft. Acer provides you with a driver CD with drivers for Vista & XP(in some forums i have read it doesnt come with XP drivers) but it has only Linux preloaded to keep the cost down. This Aspire will suit students, small businessmen and those looking for a good laptop at a budget. Retailing around 36,000/- Rs. and the Operating System price is additional its a good bet or Dell Inspiron 1420 is also a nice alternative.

Iphone in India

2007-11-19T19:55:00.000+05:30

Even though Iphone is not officially available in India, almost many mobile stores sell it. My friend has one and I played with it for a few minutes.

Before i put forward my views, i have come across a lot of smartphones based on Symbian S60, UIQ and Windows Mobile so I am putting my views as compared to these smartphones (if you call Iphone a smartphone).

Its a typical Apple product I should say, with words like cool, svelte & sexy to describe the external appearance of it
This is the first time i am seeing a mobile phone with this screen resolution so video & pictures looked stunning
Music quality was ok, couldn't test with a earphone
Browser was very good , very near to a pc experience
Couldn't quite manage to type out a simple sms with the virtual keypad
And most of all the UI and other operational speed was quite amazing

You might all think I am drooling over this phone, but at the end of the day its strict integration with iTunes, no mp3 ringtone support and no bluetooth file transfers is a No-No to me for others you will enjoy this device but waiting for a official release is a safer bet for you.....

Come & Join the FLOCK

2007-11-14T10:39:00.000+05:30

I have been a user of Mozilla Firefox for the last 3 years, found it to be very safe. Now there is a new browser in town called FLOCK (many of you might have heard about it & used it), its built on the mozilla engine with features emphasizing on Web 2.0 standards like community, sharing content etc.

After downloading the 10 MB setup file, installation was straightforward and simple. After installation, it just asked whether to import IE favourites and whether it should be the default browser.The UI was neat & clean, with lots of icons indicating, favourites, media bar, people finder , bookmarks etc.

It easily allowed me to setup my blogger account and flickr account. It has a blog editor, just type and add it to your blog post. It allowed me to upload images from any website or my local drive to flickr just by dragging & dropping. It also had options to configure many blog platforms, photo sharing sites, social bookmarking sites. The other cool feature i found was you can share urls, photos, articles by dragging into the web clipboard. Its a great browser who are often using these community and social sharing sites and its also safe.

Net Clips - Interesting sites in WWW

2007-11-10T10:35:00.000+05:30

Hope all you Techies had a HAPPY DIWALI !!!!!

These are some of the sites which has caught my eye recently,

FileHippo - Excellent place to keep track on updates of latest software on the block
TechCrunch - Keeps you update on various IT technology and services
NetVibes - A excellent tool to catch your mails, news, blog, to-do list, maps, photos, search etc all at a single place
Mobilephone Blog - Just Another Mobilephone blog is the place to keep track of all the new releases, rumors on the mobilephone arena
CricMobile - To keep track of latest scores and news on cricket on your mobile

Building a PC

2007-11-05T17:36:00.000+05:30

Last week, I was on the lookout to upgrade my aging CPU in my home, with a decent performing one. So here is what I finally picked up,

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0 Ghz (From what i've read across the web , Intel still outperforms a AMD Athlon X2, even though it costs a tad more)
Intel Original 945 GCNL Motherboard ( Has a PCI express slot but supports only 667 / 533 Mhz DDR2 RAM)
80 GB Seagate Barracuda Hard Disk 7200 RPM (I find 80 GM as ample enough space for me)
1 GB DDR2 Transcend 667Mhz RAM (Single stick, Dual channel work when there are identical sticks in each slot)
LG 18X DVD Writer (Prefer Lite-on writer but wasn't available)
Mercury 400W ATX Tower

All this came to a grand total of Rs. 14,500/- (370$), and lets say 5500/- for a 17" CRT, 500 for a keyboard / mouse combo, 500 for stereo speakers you will end with a good Budget performer (for a total of 21000/-). For techies / dummies, computer parts prices vary a lots and for those in India check out PriceGuru & ComputerWarehousepricelist

J120i - A Mobile Phone ....

2007-11-01T12:59:00.000+05:30

My Mom recently upgraded (it cant be really a upgrade in tech terms) from a Sony Ericsson J100i to a Sony Ericsson J120i. Its a phone nothing much else , but its somewhat scores much better in terms of functionality over J100i.

PROS

Its much more classier in looks and feel when compared to J100i
It has a built in memory for phonebook and speed dial and handsfree speakerphone
The ringtones were more melodious and loud
It has extra PIM features like notes, alarm, calculator etc
The screen even though its the same 96 x 65 resolution is much brighter with sharper and neater fonts
And it has a FM Radio too for music on the move (whereas J110i has no FM & bit cheaper)

CONS

The screen could have been little bigger
The choice of wallpapers were pathetic even J100i had more ( 1 black, 1 white wallpaper and 2 Hrithik Roshan pics - Brand Ambassador of SE in India-> not my mom's favourite)

Worthy competitors out there in the market place are Nokia 1600, 2310, LG KG110, Samsung C170. I got it for Rs. 2250/- (55 $), with a box containing a Hrithik Roshan panel and 1 Gold coin as a complement.

Funny Pic & SMS

2007-10-26T10:06:00.000+05:30

Here is what a frustrated techie might do one day ;-)

And some sms's for you all to read, enjoy and forward

Speed can be calculated by "MILES PER HOUR".
and Lifetime can be calculated by "SMILES PER HOUR" Be happy! Always Keep smiling
Believe where others doubt.. Work where others refuse.. Save where others waste. stay where others quit. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!
A boy goes to see a cabare dance. His mom gets angry & asks him: Did u see anything there that u were not supposed to see?

Boy: Yes, I saw dad.

Net Clips - Mobile Etiquette

2007-10-22T10:32:00.000+05:30

Here are some of the news, articles and sites I found interesting on the web,

Mobilephone Etiquette : In this day of manic use of mobile phones, there is less awareness of mobile phone usage in public places. I tend to keep my phone in silent mode in public places like halls, meetings etc. and when need to attend my calls i excuse myself and step out of the room and talk in a much softer tone. Here is a article i came across CNet Asia giving you some more tips.
Google Docs mobile : For people using google docs, it seems google is making it mobile so that you can access your docs & spreadsheets on the go in any phone. Read On
Send Free SMS : Here is a site which allows you to send sms from your PC to mobile FREE. Try and Enjoy
Missed Call Info : Here is a site which allows user to find the area and operator of the mobile number you have received or missed in India.

Plug & Surf

2007-10-17T18:28:00.000+05:30

My brother has recently got a Tata Indicom Plug 2 Surf device as a back-up to the existing BSNL Broadband connection. I decided to give a test ride in my Acer TravelMate laptop.

First the pack contains the USB 1x CDMA modem almost similar to a "Thumb Drive" but marginally bigger, with a mini-cd, installation manual. Without reading the manual (one of the whims of a computer engineer :-) ) I plugged the device and inserted the CD but after the initial installation steps, it said the hardware was not installed properly. So then I unplugged the device, from the autoplay screen of the CD pressed Installation, which installed the tata indicom dialer and after the software installation , i plugged the USB modem it got installed automatically and the green light started blinking indicating that the modem was correctly working now.

Then I started the Tata Indicom Dialer software. Its a single window with various options like "Connect", Inbox, Contacts, Settings, Sent Message. Once the device is plugged in I was able to receive or send messages. The address book had options to store number and group numbers too. The upper part of the window showed the reception strength and other service information.I tried calling this tata indicom number from my mobile, it was ringing in my mobile but the device didnt show any response in the monitor or in the device itself.

I pressed connect and got connected almost instantly informing the speed was almost 230.4 Kbps. I opened 3 tabs in Firefox, and atleast one of the 3 pages said it couldn't find server. To check two mail boxes it took me almost 5 minutes which I was able to do in a minute in my broadband connection.Next I checked its speed using McAfee Speedometer it said my connection speed was 40 Kbps.

To conclude its no way going to replace your broadband / Wi-Fi connection. The only advantage is that it can be used anywhere in India where tata indicom connection is available to check your mails or catch up on news.

At a price of Rs. 2850/- (72 $) and Rs. 100/-for the SIM card and a monthly rental of Rs. 325/- (30 hours free per month), if you think you need a way to be mobile internet you can try this. Its slightly better than GPRS connection provided by GSM operators (in India) as far as I have tried.

Smart Phone - N73

2007-10-11T19:15:00.000+05:30

Continuing with the Nokia flavor this month, this month I had chances to play around with a Nokia N73 music edition phone (with BOSE headphones). N73 comes in two flavors basically a ordinary version retailing for 14,500 Rs in a plain jane silver color and a music edition in black color. But this is a special music edition phone with Bose headphone retailing for 17,500 Rs (450 $).

A normal sized smartphone with good finish was one of the things impressed me about this phone.
Multimedia wise its loaded for a Series 60 symbian phone with 3.2 MPx camera and a Real Multimedia player preloaded with the phone.
As I said with the N80 sound is very loud (ludicrous i would say), but hearing with the Bose headphones is a pleasure.
Smartphone wise it has already a document viewer, a excellent web browser, e-mail client and there are heaps of softwares in the net for you to enhance your phone. try here
As I said in N80, the image gallery, media player and inbox are still slow to open when its loaded with stuff
The 3.2 MPx camera provides some good snaps worthy to be printed

Those looking for a non-touch screen, compact smart phone with good multimedia & battery capabilities should try this one.

N80 - Hefty Slider

2007-10-06T12:41:00.001+05:30

My friend has recently got a great deal on a Nokia N80 - Black for 5,000/- Rs ( 145 $). I was quite skeptical of this phone , not that its features are bad (to say its specs are outstanding even for todays standards) but the practicality of the phone is a doubt (like battery life & stability of the phone).

If I remember it right, N80 was one of the first N-Series phone to have a 3.2 MP camera, 3G / Wi-Fi and a high resolution screen. Here are some of my pointers on this phone. Even though this phone was released at a hefty price tag of Rs. 30000/- you can now find at some retail stores for 12,000/- rs.

Its quite a "soap bar", weighing a 135g with lots of plastic to shed if it wants to match Moto RIZR.
Even though the screen size doesn't look as big as a N95,it is quite fine at a whopping resolution of 352 x 416 pixels making the display a definite plus
Nowadays I have found every Nokia to be a big speaker when it comes to music reproduction able to blast music with its incredibly loud sound, but the down side you can hear the speaker crackling at high pitches.
Since its a Symbian 3rd edition smartphone , you can have all the Office functionality and you can buy / download and install 3rd party apps (there is a huge no. of them out there for your pickings)
Multimedia wise it can play almost any format of file thrown at it thanks to included Real player or because of softwares like DivXPlayer, smart movie player etc.
I have found almost most N-sereies smartphone image gallery takes a lot of time to open and this phone is also is the same boat . And the fancy animation makes it much more slower, i think.
I have read that Symbian web browser is good, and using it confirmed it with lots of features and options.
Connectivity is loaded with USB, Bluetooth, GPRS / EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi
I think this phone had a faulty camera module because the camera preview screen had lots of lines all over the screen and the captured pic wasn't that clear.
The problem my friend reported was that, after actually disconnecting the phone from the PC (linked thru bluetooth as a gprs modem) the phone automatically restarts.

A phone - Light on ur POCKET & WALLET

2007-10-02T19:01:00.000+05:30

Howdy Techies !!! I think this month's CockTail flavor is going to be Nokia. I have come across 2-3 Nokia phones for which i would like to post my thoughts. As usual I would like your comments / feedbacks to keep this CockTail flowing .....

My uncle has recently got a Nokia 2630. Even a year back a 100$ phone would have been a phone with a old faded color screen with nothing else to report but nowadays you can expect more from a 100$ phone, so here are my views on this phone,

A decent sized 65K TFT color screen with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.

Nokia has also entered the 'slim' bandwagon after Motorola's success, even though this phone is not as svelte as a RAZR its quite thin at 9.9 mm and light in your pocket at 83 grams

One of Nokia's strength reception & call quality is excellent in this phone too. A decent phonebook with multiple no's is also available at your disposal.

Multimedia wise there is 11 MB memory to keep your pictures captured from the VGA camera, MP3 tunes/songs, 3GP video clips.

User Interface is very easy to use & understand. Themes & wallpapers can be customized to suit your personality. MP3 files can be kept as your ringing tones.

Connectivity features are excellent like USB, Bluetooth for file transfers / sync and for Internet there is GPRS & EDGE.

Funny SMS & Pic

2007-09-26T17:34:00.000+05:30

Here is this month dose of sms's, enjoy :-)

A motorist hit a sparrow.
He tuk d unconscious bird and put it in a cage with bread & water..
D sparow woke up next morning, luked around and screamed...
"Bars,bread & water...
I'm in jail!..
Oh MY GOD I've killed d motorist!.."
Telling a lie is a fault for a little boy, an art for a lover, an accomplishment for a bachelor and a Matter of Survival for a married man.
Tip to reduce alcohol consumption: Before marriage drink only on the days when u r sad, after marriage drink only on days when u r Happy!
Experience makes 1 modified.
Training makes one qualified.But,
Involvment alone makes every1 Satisfied!So do allwork with Involvment.
Good morning.

Net Clips - K550 Modding

2007-09-22T10:12:00.000+05:30

After my article on K550i Firmware update, I got some queries on modding & flashing your phone. As I said in my earlier post firmware updation should be done with caution. And Modding & Flashing is even a bigger risk.

So as my Sony Ericsson K550i cybershot has its counterpart in Sony Ericsson W610i walkman, a K550i can be modded / flashed to W610i. Whereby you will get Flash Lite enabled themes, WalkMan 2.0 media player (better music management) and MegaBass. Here is a youtube video of a K550i modded to a Cybershot Walkan.

Here are two methods by which you can convert K550i to W610i,

Flash Tools : Here is a great thread on how you can use flashing software and downloaded W610 FS to mod your K550i. Or for other SE phones visit SE-NSE forums for great tips & tricks on modding & flashing.
WoTan Server : Here is a service similar to Sony Ericsson Update Service (SEUS) which can do things like flashing , modding etc but at a price

Pic - O - FUN

2007-09-19T10:19:00.000+05:30

Here are some funny pics I received via e-mail this month from my friends. Hopefully you Techies will enjoy as much as I did :-)

Phishing Alert

2007-09-14T17:39:00.000+05:30

I have been a member of paypal (online payment processing site) for a year now. Yesterday I received a mail stating that I need to change my address. I blindly clicked on the link and entered my name and password but stopped short of any card details. The same day I came across a TV program which depicted how phishing and other types of online fraud are robbing people of their money.
So on second thought I saw the mail again and found out that I have been a victim of "phishing attack".

So Techies / Dummies alike kindly check whether you are going to the correct website. Paypal, in their site have listed out a series of hints to find whether its a fradulent mail or not. Read it here>> . I think these two steps will keep you safe,

Paypal, sends email to their users with their first name & last name. For example, Dear John Marks whereas the fradulent mail will have Dear paypal user or something similar to that
Better don't click the link on the mail , go to the corresponding site and then log in

To check whether how aware are you of phishing here is a challenge from Paypal itself, test your know how.

Gear up for Play

2007-09-11T17:24:00.000+05:30

Today my cousin came with a Philips Go Gear 2GB MP3 player (SA2325), which he had got as a present. So here are some of my thoughts on it,

Its almost like a thumb drive with a USB port protected by the Cap on the top. Finished in a black glossy coating looks nice, but after a few minutes of playing with it my finger smudges were all over the player. Size wise its quite ok.
Switching it on i was greeted with a monochrome (black & white) screen with bright green backlight and the text and icons were clearly visible. Song info was displayed in the 2nd line whereas 1st line had battery status indicators and other indicators.
Transferring the songs (supports mp3, wma) was just plug & play using the USB (USB 2.0)adapter cable.Folder navigation was possible (no ID3 tagging) so putting albums in different folders will make navigation easier.Transferring 306 MB of songs took me 3:25 seconds
Then I tried playing the songs using the given earphones, sound quality was quite good and there were 4 preset equalizers too. As every other review site would say better get a good quality earphone to enjoy your beats :-)
FM radio was there ,but I wasn't able to try it because of poor FM reception in my town. Voice recording was also present.
The GoGear was powered by a single AAA battery which makes it very easy to replace when we run out of power.

People looking for a no non-sense mp3 player at a budget of 50$ can really consider this player.

Official link

Photo courtesy of Sony Ericsson K550

NOKLA - A hands on report

2007-09-07T10:15:00.000+05:30

A lot of you might have heard or seen chinese made mobile phone clones. Personally, I have seen lots of them on the Net but this week I came across a phone very much similar to the much coveted Nokia N95. This phone however is called as NOKLA 95(model no. i am not so sure about). From a distance it resembles very closely to its much touted counterpart. Here are some of my observations on it,

Build quality is OK to put it mildly. It doesnt feel solid like its counterpart.
Screen quality is good. But I wasnt able to find the actual resolution of the screen. It should atleast be 240 x 320 pixels.
It has two SIM card slots. I was not able to test whether it can use 2 active sims at the same time, but still a cool feature if you ask me.
The audio was blaring out through the 4 speakers ( yes you heard me right, this gizmo has 4 speakers). But when I reduced the volume it was good.
I could test the video playback capabilities as the phone had no memory card (it has a slot for T-Flash memory card) and the in built phone memory was only around 1 MB.
The UI was one which resembled like a Nokia N95 in the main menu but other than that it was a proprietary UI. It was easy to find my way through but sometimes it was confusing and the navigation was tad slow too.
I was able to pair the device with my K550i through Bluetooth and it had GPRS too. Other connectivity options I wasn't able to checkout.
The camera was inscribed as 2 Megapixel at the back but according to my friend who took some snaps it was only a VGA camera.

Going at a retail price of Rs. 6,500/-(160 $) in my town Sivakasi (see the map) ,people who are adventurous and looking to experiment can go for this NOKLA 95.

Photos courtesy of my Sony Ericsson K550i

FREE WAREZ

2007-09-03T11:27:00.000+05:30

Hello Techies......

If you have read my previous posts on Open Source softwares and free softwares, here is a update on that topic. I would strongly recommend these utilities for your PC ,

CCleaner : On my "Spring Clean ur PC" , I've mentioned as a excellent software to clean out the junk left by your various softwares in your PC. Their latest version 2.0 has been completely revamped with further enhancements to their excellent feature set.

Free Download Manager : A very good download manager with now support for BitTorrent, embedded video download from sites like youtube, metacafe etc.

JZip : Based on the 7-Zip open source platform this compression utility can handle zip, rar, ace, iso files.

Note: All trademarks and logo are properties of the corresponding companies.

Making a CellPhone smarter ......

2007-08-27T10:52:00.000+05:30

I have been a lifelong user of what's now called just plain simple CellPhone, I have never been a fan of so called smartphones ,but now times have changed smartphones are more compact (one of my biggest gripes is their size) and faster than ever before. But still I dont have the need for a smartphone running around with e-mails zipping into my box for every minute.

Anyway I always thought it would be cool to have a ordinary phone (Java based like my SE K550i) to have the capability to read files like pdf, doc, worksheets. I know Samsung phones have a Java based Picsel viewer software to do this, so after a long time I was pleased to find out there is a software called MobilePDF, MobileDOC, MobileZIP (compression utility) for Java based phones.

So I downloaded trial version of MobilePDF and used it. First and foremost it worked. But opening and scrolling through the pages of a pdf were slow. If anyone interested in making your Cellphone smarter here is the site

For more info visit : www.zesium.com

Cool SMS & Fun Pic

2007-08-22T10:26:00.000+05:30

Here are this month dose of sms and a funny pic just for you Techies :-)

Unlike others,
ur brain is a masterpiece.
it has 2 halves
the left & the right
The left has nothing right in it &
d right has nothing left in it..
Popular golden words :-
"If you want to be great,You must walk with great people".
Seriously, I have no objection,you can walk with me.
"Good Relation doesn't need any promises, any terms or conditions. It just needs two wonderful people. One cool like me & one sweet like you"
We're Great Friend
True Friends stand by u in ur bad times..!
Do u want proof?
Check ur marriage album,
u'll see all true friends surrounding u..

Net Clips - DVD Quality

2007-08-18T10:55:00.000+05:30

Recently I came across a article in Chip-India magazine,how to get most out of Nero Burning software. There I read how Nero could be used to check out the quality of blank DVD media. In this age, when a blank DVD and CD media are available at almost the same rates I think this page here with all the classes of DVD media and how to check them is a valuable informational tool.

Especially who want to back-up their media for a long time in a safe manner should be able to cough up some extra dough so that they don't end up in a situation where their precious DVD full of precious photos does not play properly after 6 months !!!!!

G & G News - Linux in ur Thumb

2007-08-15T11:41:00.000+05:30

In this month Gadget & Gizmo news, here is a new flavor of Linux called "Damn Small Linux" which can run from even a thumb drive because of its small size (to be exact 50 MB). It has basic applications like Browser, E-Mail Client, Multimedia player, PDF viewer,IM, Spreadsheet etc ....hopefully it will be a eyeopener to people who havent experienced linux before .....

And for people who have heard about Nokia replacing their faulty batteries, you can check you whether you need a replacement by following the link here.

Dual Avatar

2007-08-10T17:46:00.000+05:30

Watching NDTV's Gadget Guru program in TV, I came across a CoolPad 288 mobilephone which is supposed to work with a GSM & CDMA connection at the same time . I have been a lifelong user of GSM phones, but people who are interested in switching but considering keeping the old connection too can try this phone. Not only does the phone supports two connections at the same time but it has a plethora of features and it is supposed to be available in India.

In India, AirTel, Hutch, BSNL, Idea are the main GSM Players whereas Reliance Mobile, Tata Indicom are CDMA providers. That program was almost two weeks ago, now recently Tata Indicom has launched a Samsung DUO which is supposed to do the same. And Spice Mobile (Indian Mobile company) has come out with CDMA + GSM & GSM + GSM phone.

So Techies who have more than one SIM card can have a Single Phone to Talk & Connect. And anybody who has used this phone and care to write a review please post a comment here I will be glad to put up your review in my TECHIE COCKTAIL

My K550i & PAN

2007-08-06T10:02:00.000+05:30

One of my favourite feature on my mobile is Bluetooth , an excellent piece of technology which rids us of from the ever growing tangle of wires. In a mobilephone bluetooth is used for various purposes such as sync, remote control, file sharing etc ...and Personal Area Networking (PAN) is one of the profiles supported by my SE K550i. Check your phone manual , spec sheet to clarify whether your phone supports this or not.

Actually I was inspired by this thread @ Esato whereby you can access your PC's broadband internet connection to browse in your mobile / smart phone. First you need to check whether your bluetooth drive is properly installed or not. Default windows bluetooth driver in a windows XP machine wont work, you need to install the driver which came with your bluetooth device.

First I paired my K550i with my Acer TravelMate
Then using the bluetooth wizard I selected network access as a service I wanted to use my laptop and phone for.
Then in the network connections window, I enabled "bluetooth network"
In 'My Bluetooth Places', I went to the 'Properties of Network Access' and i ticked the 'connect automatically' checkbox and underneath that in the list i selected "Allow other devices to access internet / LAN " (see the picture)
Then in network connections in the properties of my broadband connection i checked the option to share this net connection and underneath that in the list select "Bluetooth Network"
Then in my phone i went to the "Bluetooth->My Devices" section and in the More section of my laptop name i checked Allow Network access -> Always Allow
Then in the Data Comm section check whether a profile with bluetooth icon and your PC name has been created (in my case there was a profile with my laptop name)
Go to Internet profile -> Create a new profile with the account using my laptop name data account.

Thats all !! Connected my laptop with the internet. Connected my phone with the laptop thru bluetooth. Opened my phone browser and started browsing like YouTube Mobile, Yahoo Mobile. And also tried to the new Opera Mini Beta.

My K550i & SEUS

2007-08-03T10:03:00.000+05:30

Before I tell my first little experience with my K550i, I would like to tell in this world of Gadgets & Gizmos a term called "FIRMWARE" plays a very important part. Without these firmwares all you have is a paperweight instead of your mobilephone , mp3 player etc .....Lets say these are the brains of our gizmos....

Many of you might have come across glitches in your gadgets, so companies nowadays releases new firmwares to rectify those 'bugs' and improve your hardware's performance.

I have tried updating my Creative ZEN V Plus without a hitch, a small downloadable file. Just plug in your player run the update file viola !!! in 2 minutes you are done. As far as I know in the mobile phone arena Sony Ericsson and Nokia are the ones who give control to the users to update the firmware for their phones. Sony Ericsson gives you two options ,

SEUS - Sony Ericsson Update Service -> You will need a PC /Laptop with broaband connection
FOTA - Firmware Over The Air -> You can update the phone's firmware through either your GPRS / EDGE / 3G service provided by your telecom service provider

Even though I had gone through a host of SE mobiles I have never dared to update the firmware as I have read a lots of horror stories resulting in Dead Phones. Anyway everything new is a risk, so two days back downloaded the SEUS software plugged in my phone through USB cable and started the update. Even though I followed instructions there were few glitches to make the PC recognize my phone but finally did it and after a download of almost 30 MB and a update time of 10 minutes I got my K550 updated from R1JD001 to R6BC002 (firmware version no's). Using FOTA, has one advantage that the doanload package will be small (in my case it was around only 3 MB but due to my crappy GPRS connection I didnt take this route)

Note : While updating firmware please read and follow the instructions properly so that you wont end up with a costly paperweight :-).

Me & My K550i

2007-08-01T10:52:00.000+05:30

Hi Techies,

This month I am going to jot down some interesting things I did with my Sony Ericsson K550i. Meanwhile Sony Ericsson has started a campaign called " Capturing it Live"...check it out here.

And here is the K550i ad which you might have seen in TV courtesy of YouTube,

Cool SMS & Pic

2007-07-28T21:07:00.000+05:30

Hope you techies like the "Puppy" made out of a banana picture. And here are this month dose of sms,

Life is a rope that swings us through hope, Always believe today is better than yesterday & tomorrow will be much better than today...
A heart melting love story:

Boy : I cant marry you.. My family wil not accept that..

Girl : Who are they to stop our love?

Boy : MY WIFE and 3 CHILDREN...!
Marriage is a book where the first page is written as poetry and the remaining pages are written as prose...!!
Be hot as sun,
Be cool as ice,
Be colorful as rainbow,
Be sweet as honey,
Be pure as snow,
&
Be smart as me.

SUPER man of Converters

2007-07-25T18:07:00.000+05:30

From the time I bought a video capable phone, I have started trying to experiment with different video conversion softwares. My search culminated in a software named "SUPER" . The name as it implies is a "Super" man of all converters. First of all it accepts a host of input formats like wmv,rm,avi,mpg,vob,3gp,mp4 and even flv (videos from youtube, iFilm, metacafe) to a host of output formats like Apple IPod video, Sony PSP, Mobilephone video formats like 3gp, and other common formats like wmv,rm,avi,mpg,vob,3gp,mp4 and flv.

It has a hosts of video settings like bitrate, video scale size, aspect ration and audio settings like sampling frequency, channels, bitrate. Its a simple software with a single window. Just drop the input video / audio file into the window and convert to the format which you desire. You can even extract audio from a video by just selecting mp3 as the output container.

The glitches in this software are it takes a few seconds to startup, there is also no option to cut a video file and there is no proper help as sometimes video conversion throws some error for no reason at all. Anyway for a "FREE SOFTWARE" its a Very Good software for all your video conversion needs.

Super Homepage

Watch Out !!!

2007-07-17T17:07:00.000+05:30

Look out folks, there is a new thief in your PC which wouldn't be detected by your antivirus / spyware etc. why ? ......here read this on

A new device has been introduced to the marketplace that is a huge danger to anyone who uses a PC that is not theirs. It is known as a key tracker and it sits between the keyboard and the PC. As can be seen in the pictures it is very discreet but is probably one of the most dangerous items of equipment to personal information that is readily available. These devices record every key that is pressed on the keyboard. Due to it's position (it sits between the keyboard and the PC) the information is logged by the tracker before the PC knows about it and as such is very difficult for the PC to detect. They are available in both USB and PS2 formats so pretty much any PC can be logged. The user puts the tracker in line, leaves it there for a set amount of time and then retrieves it. They can then download the data onto their own PC.

If you intend to use a PC that is not yours (ie hotel business centre, internet café, airport etc) I would advise looking at the back of the PC to see if one of these trackers has been placed in line (scrambling under a desk is the better alternative to losing your email details). If you cannot get to see the back of the PC, I would suggest you don't use it for anything personal. If a tracker is there and you do not notice it, whoever placed it there (could be any user of that PC before you) will be able to recall all of your keystrokes - logins, passwords etc.

These trackers cost less than £30 and they are definitely out there already.

G & G N.E.W.S

2007-07-09T10:11:00.000+05:30

In a new addition to my blog, I will try to bring in info on some new developments in the field of Gadgets and Gizmos. This month I want to bring your attention to some mobile websites which has recently come up.

Google Picasa Mobile : Log into http://picasaweb.google.com/m/ using your phone browser. View, Share and Search for any photos using your mobile.

Mobile YouTube : Log into http://m.youtube.com using your phone browser, where you will be able to see all the youtube clips and even upload your own video using MMS. And the best thing is that you dont need a Flash capable phone all the clips are streamed in 3GP format. But be sure to have a cheaper data plan as the videos hog a lot of bandwidth

Net Clips VI - IPhone Clone

2007-07-04T17:48:00.000+05:30

Continuing with the Iphone mania gripping around the world, here is a IPhone clone from a chinese company called Meizu. Not only it resembles a IPhone (somewhat)...it blows away the IPhone on the specs department.

For example,

IPhone - 320 x 480 16 million color screen
Meizu M8 - 720 x 480

IPhone - No 3G with 2.0 Mpx camera
Meizu M8 - 3G capable with 3.0 mpx camera

Read more about it in this article here

And what more its supposed to be selling for half the price of IPhone....

Article courtesy of CNet Asia

Net Clips V - IPhone for India

2007-07-02T10:59:00.001+05:30

Most of the people , techies and dummies alike would have been caught in the hype of IPhone . So here is a novel and hilarious version of IPhone for India from the people of Mutiny.in ..for the full article read it HERE. The killer features for me are the MMSi and RCWWP. What do you Techies feel about it ? Post your comments here....

Thanks to "the Mutineers" for the wonderful idea .......

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - VIII

2007-06-26T11:06:00.000+05:30

This months of dose of SMS's just for all you Techies out there,

Life is like having a cup of coffee. You sit by the window, lift the cup, take a careless sip and find no sugar. Too lazy to go for the sugar, u somehow manage with that sugarless cup. On finishing u discover undissolved sugar crystals settled at the bottom. Thats how life is.. We do not make any effort to value what is around or within us.
So look around, may be the sweetness you are looking for is closer than u think...
G- ghost
I- in
R- real
L- life
So avoid girls in ur life. Now forward all girl's name and numbers to me to save ur life.
Give me a chance to help U...
Some Flowers Grow Best in the Sun,
Some Flowers do well in the Shadow.

God Knows What is Best For us & Puts us Where We can Grow Best...!
It might be Funny but its very True..

"Good boys get heaven And Bad boys get Women..

Encounter with a 'PEARL'

2007-06-21T12:00:00.000+05:30

A word of caution to my readers, I have had no previous knowledge on Blackberry phones or haven't used them before. By luck I got to play around with a Blackberry Pearl (Model No: 8100) provided by AirTel . So these are some of my own impressions formed from a " Blackberry Ignorant Brain "

I have never been a fan of flat wide bodied device with QWERTY keypad , even though it has its own advantages, the Sony Ericsson M600i was a exception. But the Pearl with its sleek looks really amazed me. For a smart phone its absolutely a svelte chic ;-)
The 240 x 320 display was nice and the grid based iconic interface was nice & easy to use
I think this is one of the first blackberry phones with a camera & media player functionality. The 1.3 megapixel camera is quite OK and the music quality was good. The demo video of avi format was quite exceptional in sharpness and smoothness of playback
The internet browser was average as it wasnt able to handle pages with Javascript
Whats a blackberry without "E-Mail" - The e-mail delivered is read well in the big display and all attachments like doc, xls, ppt, jpg, pdf files were easily opened and viewed. Images cam be zoomed in and out. But typing in the keypad what they call as SureType keypad was a struggle as I couldnt come to grips with keypad
The best thing to me about the Pearl is the Pearl (trackball) itself which sits under the display. It was a dream to navigate with it.

J230 - Cute Mobile with Radio

2007-06-18T10:44:00.000+05:30

A week back i was on the Net as well as the Streets on the lookout for a basic phone with a FM to gift my sister. This part of the mobile market has lots of options with the likes on Nokia 2310, 2610, 2626, 6030 , Motorola C168, W209, Samsung C160 etc.... Partial as I am to Sony Ericsson Phones I zeroed in on J230i even though its a comparatively older model with the likes ok 2610, 2626. But for around a budget of 65 US$ (2,600 INR)....i was making up my mind between 2310 and J230i. J230 won because of its bigger screen with better resolution and good phonebook.

Now for its Pros :

Cute & handy weighing just 84 grams
Call quality is good with a nice speakerphone
Handy shortcuts with Grid / List based menus
SMS typing is easy with nice keys and a excellent T9 dictionary
Polyphonic ringtones / wallpapers can be downloaded through GPRS
Personalized pictures and ringtones for callers
Ringer volume is loud and melodious (For a person like my sis, who keeps it in her handbag this is a MUST)
300 contacts in phone memory as well as extra contacts can be stored in SIM
Nice PIM features like To-Do list, Alarm, Stopwatch
FM Radio is good with excellent sound

And for its Cons

The 128 x 128 CSTN screen even though 65K colors is almost completely dark in sunlight
Only 3 themes are present and no option to download more
There is no USB connectivity ( As far as i Know ???)
Orange color keypad lights ( I am a sucker for white or blue keypad lights)
Costly style-up covers ( Style-up covers can be used to change the look of your phone but for a price of 20$ its way out of my league)

Animated Wallpapers - Just 4 U

2007-06-15T10:21:00.000+05:30

For people who are interested in getting their name (or any text for that matter) on cool animated wallpapers, the site Red Dodo offers them for free. Wallpaper size according to your phone can be selected and a text of length till 16 characters can be entered. Here is a sample of what I've done,

Just click on the banner to start making your own customized wallpapers.

Net Clips - V (Be a Google XPert)

2007-06-11T11:47:00.000+05:30

If you are the one who Googles the way through the internet, here is a interesting article i found in the internet. Here are some excerpts from it followed by the actual link to the original article.

12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert
I f you're like me, you probably use Google many times a day. But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form. If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you're looking for, then I'm here to tell you that there's a better way – and it's not hard to learn. On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article. You'll then have it on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something........

For example to exclude words : internet marketing -advertising

For specific document types : “internet marketing” filetype:ppt

Find the original article here.

Courtesy of : Smallbusinesshub.com

X.T.E.N.D Ur Zen

2007-06-06T18:59:00.000+05:30

For people who havent yet read the review on my Creative Zen V Plus , please read it here. For people who have already have a zen and looking for tips, help, accessories, here are some sites which provides you with good info and deals,

Epizenter - An excellent forum for all Creative players
Silicone Case & Screen Protector - A good deal I came across in the net so far......
Zen V Plus Update - Official Zen firmware updates
Zen V Plus - Creative's Zen V Plus official homepage
MediaMonkey - A free media management software

For good deals, there's always Amazon and for syncing ur Zen to ur windows PC there is always Windows media player and I have found WMP 11 pretty good and easy.

Stylish Slider in a Budget - E250

2007-06-01T19:45:00.000+05:30

My friend HoneyKing , who had a SE K320 recently switched over to a slider phone Samsung E250. Some of the aspects of this phone which caught my attention were,

Stylish & Compact
Big screen (But I didnt like the big fonts) with 128 x 160 TFT display
Extensive connectivity options like GPRS / EDGE, USB, Bluetooth
Good music quality with FM and a expandable microSD slot (upto 2 GB) (But the music player doesnt run in the background)
Compatible with Java applications & games
OK camera (VGA resolution) but quite good with video recording too
Mobile tracker application built-in to keep track of your phone in case when it is stolen or lost

Apart from the big fonts, there is limited options for customization as there are only 2 themes & cant set our own tones for sms. For official specs please visit here. At a estimated retail price of 155 US $ its a good buy for people who are on the look out for slider phone with music capability at a budget.

Download Corner - Mobile Themes

2007-05-29T19:26:00.000+05:30

Here are some links to Sony Ericsson K550i themes I found on a website.

Download: Neo Highway Theme

Download: Winter Theme

Download: Glass Theme

Download: Count Chipula Theme

Note: These themes will also be compatible with SE K610i, Z710, W710

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - VII

2007-05-25T10:22:00.000+05:30

This month dose of sms,

Man: God, hw long is a Million years 2 u?
God: A "Minute".
Man: And a Million dollars?
God: A "Rupee".
Man: Can u give me a RUPEE?
God: Just wait 4 a "minute .
Life is not made up of great sacrifices and duties, but made up of simple smiles and kind acts - Help others and love others with a kind heart....
If time
Slips away
Witout a sms
Frm me
U dnt hv
2 worry
Abt our
Frndshp
Bcoz feelings
Beyond words
Wil always
Keep me
R O
A you U
D N
*************

Million Dollar Ideas

2007-05-21T17:36:00.000+05:30

This is from a mail I got from my cousin, with a list of simple , innovative ideas (sometimes ludicrous) which went on to make the founders of the ideas Millionaires. Here are some of those ideas,

Million Dollar Homepage

1000000 pixels, charge a dollar per pixel – that's perhaps the dumbest idea for online business anyone could have possible come up with.Still, Alex Tew, a 21-year-old who came up with the idea, is now a millionaire.
SantaMail

Ok, how's that for a brilliant idea. Get a postal address at NorthPole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for every letter you send to their kids? Well, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer. Full Story
Doggles

Create goggles for dogs and sell them online? Boy, this IS the dumbest idea for a business. How in the world did they manage to become millionaires and have shops all over the world with that one? Beyond me.
LaserMonks

LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank, an eight-monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yeah, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! Their 2005 sales were $2.5 million! Praise the Lord. Full Story
AntennaBalls

You can't sell antenna ball online. There is no way. And surely it wouldn't make you rich. But this is exactly what Jason Wall did, and now he is now a millionaire. Full Story
FitDeck

Create a deck of cards featuring exercise routines, and sell it online for $18.95. Sounds like a disaster idea to me. But former Navy SEAL and fitness instructor Phil Black reported last year sales of $4.7 million. Surely beats what military pays.
PositivesDating.Com

How would you like to go on a date with an HIV positive person? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating site for HIV positive folks last year. Projected 2006 sales are $110,000, and the two hope to have 50,000 members by their two-year mark.
Designer Diaper Bags

Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers around in a freezer bag. The 34-year-old mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her infant son into freezer bags to keep them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein wanted something that was compact, sleek and stylish, so in November 2004, she sat down with her husband, Marcus, who helped her design a custom diaper bag that's big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $180,000 in sales for 2005, Christie's company, Diapees & Wipees, has bags in 22 different styles, available online and in 120 boutiques across the globe for $14.99.
PickyDomains

Hire another person to think of a cool domain name for you? No way people would pay for this. Actually, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free. PickyDomains currently has a waiting list of people who want to PAY the service to come up with a snappy memorable domain name. PickyDomains is expected to hit six figures this year. Full Story
Lucky Wishbone Co.

Fake wishbones. Now, this stupid idea is just destined to flop. Who in the world needs FAKE PLASTIC wishbones? A lot of people, it turns out.Now producing 30,000 wishbones daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $1 million.

To see other businesses that have not made the top 10 list but came pretty close, visit Business Ideas Blog

Boost ur PC

2007-05-18T10:23:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered why your windows PC or laptop felt sluggish and slow, how you wished you could speed it up. I had mentioned in my previous post -> "Spring Clean ur PC" about using free software to clean up your PC. Now here is a simple trick with no additional softwares.

Right Click on your desktop
Goto "NEW" -> 'SHORTCUT'
And type the following - %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks
Click Next and Finish
Double click to stop all the idle tasks hooging your system memory.
You can change the Icon if you want to and I have tested it only in a Windows XP machine.

Hope all of you find this useful, If you have got any cool tricks for your PC please share your comments.

Trick courtesy of Gadget Guru Show on NDTV.

Google Talk - Just for U

2007-05-15T10:51:00.000+05:30

In one of my previous post, I posted some of the web based IM's out there and the way Meebo has a gadget to integrate IM into your webpage or blog. Now Google has come up with Google Talk Gadget in addition to its Google Talk Client, whereby you can add the Gadget to your Google Homepage
allowing you to do some cool stuff like viewing youtube videos and picasa webalbums in addition to getting to chat with your Google pals. Or you could add Google Talk to your webpage by getting the code here.

The code is just 2 lines which can be added to your webpage or blog. So no techie jargons to worry about. And speaking about the Google homepage , now they have added cool stuff like Themes which changes according to the time of day in your city. If you have google id, preview it here.

W300-Music in a ClamShell

2007-05-11T17:29:00.000+05:30

I came across a Sony Ericsson W300i, not a phone with"Mind-blowing" specs going for it, but a cute & compact phone with rocking music. I think people who are looking for a clamshell phone with basic voice & text communication and looking for a back-up to your IPod or my favourite Creative Zen to while away your time during travel can look forward to this mobile phone.

Some of the things going for this phone are,

Solid build quality with a informative outer screen (greyscale) with 3 lines
Bright screen (TFT with 128 x 160 pixels) and easy to understand User Interface
Ready to go for music with in-ear headphones, 256 MB memory stick , USB cable & Disc2Phone software
Excellent music quality with MegaBass and FM radio too
GPRS / EDGE with Bluetooth capability to use Internet on your phone or through your PC / Laptop
Java Games & Music DJ, PhotoDJ to enjoy your free time

Some specs not going for this phone are,

Low resolution screen when compared to other SE models like Z550, W550 in this price range
VGA camera only , good for MMS but not good for a bigger screen
No full screen video support

For a price of 200$, it is a good buy for teens, college goers looking for Music & Phone on the Go. There is also a poor cousin for W300i called Z530 with a UBC screen (dimmer than TFT), minus FM & EDGE but plus Style-Up cover (exchangeable covers) at 145$. You can buy a Memory Stick Micro and headphone to make it closer to a W300i if you want.

Other music phones competing in this price range are Sony Ericsson W200i (specs similar to K310/K320 with Memory card slot), Nokia 5200,LG KG200.

Moto Ming - Jack of all Trades

2007-05-07T19:42:00.000+05:30

My friend recently got a Motorola A1200 a.k.a MING . I have read and seen lots of Motorola's models like RAZR, SLVR more known for their ' svelte ' looks than for it ' brainy features '. But people who are on a tight budget and looking for a PDA cum mobile phone , MING might be a answer to all your prayers.

Lookwise its good, not as sexy as a RAZR you might say. For a Smartphone its compact in size with a flip to cover the front screen. With a solid build quality and fairly lightweight for a 'smartphone' i should say its a good start for a smartphone. I will try to tackle this "JACK of ALL TRADES" in various departments from the brief meeting with it I had.

PHONE : As some people tend to forget, first & foremost its a Mobile phone...Reception is good, call quality is little on the softer side otherwise its ok. Speakerphone does its work. Phonebook is standard for a phone with multiple no's, address and email id's.
PDA : The touchscreen is OK. The User Interface with its 240 x 320 screen is good but the icons could have been drawn better. The phone is slow especially while going through long lists, file management tasks etc. The calendar is standard stuff , with inbuilt readers for office & pdf documents. E-Mail & Web browser are quite good but slow. Since its a linux powered device you could download 3rd party softwares from the internet and install it in your phone.

GPRS is provided for internet connectivity and Bluetooth is also present for connecting to other phones, headsets, printers. You could also use bluetooth stereo headphones to stream wireless music.
MULTIMEDIA : The screen is very good for viewing pictures and videos. Sound through the speaker is soft whereas using headphones you could enjoy all the beats. Real player is used for viewing videos and hearing music. A FM tuner is present for Radio too.Full screen video is possible with ways to skip forward / backward through the videos. But as I said scanning the memory card for files takes time.

Camera is quite OK for taking pictures and videos. The 2 megapixel camera is mediocre in terms of other 2 Megapixels camera phones out there, but it does the business in well lighted situations. One cool feature is the " Biz Card Scanner ", whereby you can take the photo of a biz card and it will store all the details in your address book. Tried it and it worked alright.

As you can see its just a glancing encounter with the MING, but as I said its a JACK OF ALL TRADES but KING of none. But for a price of 340$ its a Value Buy for people who are looking for a "Smartphone" in a tight budget.

IM for GlobeTrotters

2007-05-04T10:43:00.000+05:30

For people on the move, or people who use cyber cafes or who hate to have IM's seperately for Yahoo, Google, MSN, ICQ here is a great way and easy way to all these Instant Messengers in one place wherever you go. Google made it popular with their web based IM's but now Yahoo has also come up with their own web based IM to join the bandwagon. But I will highlight two other sites which makes this possible.

Meebo : One of the best out there with possibility to log into Yahoo, Google, MSN, AOL, ICQ & jabber. The interface is nice and simple and very easy to use(No need to sign up before logging into the IM). If you want you could sign up for a account to use other Meebo features like Widgets. Another cool feature is MeeboMe which gives you the capability to add your own IM window in your website.
eBuddy : This is also good but limited in terms of network, you can log into Yahoo, MSN & AOL. But the cool feature of ebuddy is that you can log into any of the IM through your mobile phone, PSP or Nintendo DS without installing any additional software. Just type http://mob.ebuddy.com in your phone browser .Works in both xHTML or WAP 2.0 enabled browser and WAP 1.1 browser. For people looking for software to carry your IM in the phone read my post here on IM on the Move.

Note : Yahoo India has their web based IM here you can try it out.

Net Clips - IV (Money Management mantra)

2007-05-02T10:56:00.000+05:30

In this world, where most Techie & IT professionals earn a staggering amount , its still sad to find that many people in this circle are still not aware of good money management practices. If this "Modern World" is coming out with numerous ideas to help with your money management then, It seems a 3500 year old book has already found answers for all your money management woes.

Here are some excerpts from the article :

A book was cast in stone more than 3,500 years ago in Babylon and was found by a British professor late last century. What impressed him -- and helped him come out of a debt crisis -- were the inscriptions on how to manage one's finances.

Pay yourself first
Make your money work harder
Take calculated risks -- but do take them
Be persistent

For the Full Article read it here at Rediff

If you have any money management trick it share, please feel free to post your ideas here.

Download Corner - Mobile Wallpapers

2007-04-27T10:12:00.000+05:30

Compatible with Mobilephones with Screen Resolution of 176 x 220 pixels ( Like SE K750/W800/W810/K550/K610/Z710, Motorola V3i,L7)

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - VI

2007-04-23T10:19:00.000+05:30

Some inspiring and cute sms I got this month,

Whats the meaning of sms (share my sweetness) (search my soul) (seek my sweetheart) (succeed my smartness)(see my smile)so keep sending SMS. ..
Waves are my inspiration. Not because they rise and fall but because each time they fall, they rise again...
Dr.Kalam.
A famous writer said "love is like a long sweet dream and
marriage is an alarm clock.
"so have sweet dreams til ur alarm wakes u up.......gud night..Sweet Dreams
Wonderful Combinations in this World..

Heart & Beats.
Night & Moon.
Music & Songs.
Roses & Love.
Fish & Water.
My free messages & Ur costly smile!

Net Clips -III (Mobile Signal Boosters)

2007-04-19T10:11:00.000+05:30

Wi-Ex, a company making indoor mobile phone boosters, has carried out a survey into the things people do to get reception.

Apparently 62% have done something special to improve reception with 46% having to go outside to use the phone.

Below are some of the ways mobile phone users have tried to boost their reception:

"Stood in the closet with the light off"
"Stand in my daughter's room while touching the chain from her ceiling fan"
"Stand on higher things like a couch or chair"
"Stood by metal [stuff]"
"Lay perfectly still without moving"
"Run back and forth"
"Moved my arm around"
"Held my head at a funny angle"
"Gone upstairs"
"Hang out the window"
"Kept moving my cell phone until I got a signal - and ended up pulling a matrix move as I tried to keep the signal"

Courtesy of a post from Esato

K550i - Points to Note

2007-04-14T18:15:00.000+05:30

For those who read my previous 4 posts on Sony Ericsson K550i and for those who hate to read lengthy reviews here is a short but sweet summary of PLUS points for K550i,

Trendy device with well balanced features
Phone functionality is solid
Multimedia, Camera and Connectivity excellent
Acts a back-up to your dedicated MP3 player, Digital Camera, PDA (PRINCE-OF-ALL-TRADES)
Value for Money

Some surprising details on this phone

The Media player supports Real Audio / Video 8 formats ( i.e ra, rm, rv)
Also supports Windows media formats (i.e wma, wmv)
According to the whitepaper it supports Flash Lite too ala W610i (But I have no idea how to get Flash themes working)

K550i resources

Whitepaper : Useful for Developers / techies.
English Manual
Themes, Ringtones, Wallpapers, Games
Forum

K550i - CyberShot Jr. -> Techies Notes

2007-04-11T11:12:00.000+05:30

I have done a simple comparison with JBenchMark 2 with my previous Sony Ericsson phones to emphasize how software & hardware wise its much superlative to the previous generation of phones.

And these are the JBenchmark 3D results :

JBenchMark 3D HQ : 273
JBenchMark 3D LQ : 462
Triangles ps : 44172
KTexels ps : 728

And this is the JBenchmark Ace (Mobile Strength Test)result :

CPU Class : ARM9
CPU MHz : 227 MHz
JVM Type : AOT

In the next post, I will try to summarize the strong points of K550i and most importantly some astonishing information about this phone which frankly amazed and pleased me .

K550i - CyberShot Jr. (Part - 3)

2007-04-07T12:12:00.000+05:30

The K550i is the third cybershot branded phone following K790i / K800i. It is mainly to fill the void to be left by the highly successful K750i.

Cybershot : As you slide out the active lens cover the phone switches to the cybershot camera mode. The interface resembles to a Sony Cybershot camera with lots of options to change the shooting modes, lighting, frames and effects. It has only digital zoom as with other Sony Ericssonphones it doesnt work in the highest resolution i.e at 2 Megapixels. The focus of the camera has been reduced from the K750 to fit into the slim body thats one of the reasons I got from the internet that the picture quality doesnt outperform the K750. But cybershot option has added extra shooting options and there is also a option to directly add your images to your blog. There is also a HP Print app to print your pictures in your printer via bluetooth or pictbridge. PhotoMate application provides you with lots of options regarding picture composing, framing and sending.
Applications : The now customary applications like Music DJ,PhotoDJ, VideoDJ are present to compose music, edit photos and videos. In addition to the HP PhotoPrint java application i would suggest other java apps like Converter, World Clock 3D (which can be downloaded from Sony Ericsson website for free) and Opera mini which is better than NetFront browser available in the phone. Face Warp is a fun app to morph a face taken by your mobile into various funny expressions. TrackID is one of the new apps in current Sony Ericsson phones which gets a audio clip palying your FM radio or other external sources and gets the track information from the internet for Free.
PIM: The phone has a excellent address book with capacity to store 1000 contacts (5 Nos, Home & Office Address,E-Mail address and B'Day dates). A typical sony ericsson calendar has been provided to store appointments. Tasks are provided to store simple reminders and Notes can be sticked on to ur standby screen to remind you. Address book, Calendars, Notes can be synchronized to your Outlook software.

To conclude, overall the phone is a excellent package in the mid-end segment. Nokia 6300 gives this a close competition because of its QVGA screen. People looking forward to upgrading from a phone with VGA or 1.3 Mpx should definitely consider this phone. Some negatives which I found in this phone were at higher volumes the music from the speaker tends to crackle and little steep learning curve to get used to the keypad.

In the next post I will give some Java Benchmark results to emphasize on the amazingly quick User Interface and the strong points of K550i.

K550i - CyberShot Jr. (Part - 2)

2007-04-04T11:28:00.000+05:30

For people who are contemplating a choice between K750i and K550i, one compelling reason in favor of K550i is its User Interface.

User Interface : The first thing to be noticed is the a somewhat bigger font with rounded edges making it look pleasing for the eyes. The main menu and sub-menu options are almost same but they are noticeably quicker than K750i. The only downer is that K550i doesnt support Flash ala K750 but its walkman counterpart W610i has this feature. The Activity menu has one more tab showing all the running applications making it possible to muti-task by using a chatting app like Mig33 and playing music all the while. One more welcome addition in K550i / W610i is that now videos can be added to a caller so that a video is played when that caller calls. File manager has different tabs for viewing files in phone memory & memory stick.
Multimedia : The media player has been revamped but somewhat less in terms of Walkman media player of W610i. And one more thing that it lacks is Megabass which was found on the K750 and the current W610. But K550 has a stereo widening option which is not found in the K750. Video playback now supports playing files with resolution of 240 x 320 at 30 FPS. Media player supports MP3,AAC,AAC+,midi, wav, 3GP, MP4 formats. Disc2Phone software for the PC is given in the CD to transfer music. Audio quality while listening to MP3's and the FM radio is excellent to say the least.
Connectivity : A strong point of all Sony Ericsson mobiles has been its connectivity. This phone is no exception with USB 2.0 / Infrared & Bluetooth support. The bluetooth version has been upgraded from K750 and supports A2DP profile (in simple terms bluetooth stereo headphones can be used to wirelessly stream music). And GPRS has been complemented with EDGE for faster data download speeds if your operator has this option. Address book and calendar be locally / remotely synced. And firmwares can be upgraded over the air using GPRS / EDGE.

In my next post,I will provide some details on Cybershot features, Applications and PIM.

K550i - CyberShot Jr. (Part - 1)

2007-04-02T10:39:00.000+05:30

For people who are regular visitors to my blog, you would have known my previous two Sony Ericssons were W550i & Z550i. Now I have switched over to a traditional candybar phone. My current options when I went to buy this mobile were Nokia 6300 , Sony Ericsson K750i and K550i. As my thoughts on this phone go, I would compare to its predecessor K750i and its walkman counterpart W610i to illustrate some differences.

First of all K550i replaces the K750i as the Sony Ericsson's cybershot mid-range phone segment and is not be supposed to be the flagship phone which actually belongs to K790i / K800i / K810i . But the K550i is going to replace the soon to be phased out K750i, since both are almost similar (lets say 75% ).

Whats in the Box (Depends on the Region)

K550i Handset
BST-33 Battery
USB Cable
Stereo Headset
64MB Sandisk Memory Stick Micro (M2)
Charger
PC Suite CD
Manual

Build & Looks : I've never been a buyer for phone on looks ...but the K550i is a Class Apart in this segment with its "Uber Cool" looks. The small metallic keys with blue backlight looks awkard but it has good tactile feel and its a joy to press. For users of K750i ....there is no more joystick (so no joystick cleaning)..but the keypad will get sometime to get used to. The phone is thin (not as thin as L7 or Samsung Ultra series) and solid with a little creaky backpad which i have found with all SE candybar phones. The phone is available in Black & white while its walkman counterpart W610i is available in Satin Black & Plush Orange.
Call Quality : When compared to K750i this phone is quad-band so you can take it to your travel to America whereas K750i was only a tri-band phone. The network reception and call quality was excellent. Speakerphone was good. Battery lasts for a talk time of 200 minutes.

In my next post, I will give some insights into its User Interface (Believe me its amazing) , Multimedia , Connectivity features.

Download Corner - Mobile Wallpapers

2007-03-28T10:16:00.000+05:30

(Right Click on the pictures and "Select Save Picture as")

Compatible with Mobilephones with Screen resolution 176 x 220 ( Eg. Sony Ericsson K750i/K610i/Z710i/W550i , Motorola RAZR V3i)

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - V

2007-03-23T19:28:00.000+05:30

This was a good one I received this month, enjoy .....

10 Advantages for "NOT" having a "LOVER"

1. Save time,

2. Can sleep well,

3. Don't have to bother about missed calls,

4. Don't have to worry about how you look,

5. Can eat in any restaurant,

6. No boring sms in the middle of night,

7. Can talk with all girls/boys,

8. There won't be any advice,

9. Can go any where with anyone,

10. Don't have to listen to same old crap jokes,

BONUS: you'll live a long life...!

K320i - Budget Performer

2007-03-19T13:48:00.000+05:30

I came across Sony Ericsson K320i from my friend HoneyKing , who was using it for 3 months. I was impressed by the phone not only by its looks but also for its 'Value - for - Money' features.Some of my impressions on this phone are,

LOOKS : I would say it looks cool especially the brown color. Looks sophisticated with nicely spaced keypad and weghing at a mere 80 grams.
PHONE : As a phone, the reception and call quality is solid with a good speaker phone. Battery comes good for a talk time of 4 hours.
FUNCTIONS : Equipped with a 128 x 160 65K UBC color screen, the screen is not as bright as TFT but it is quite good for a budget phone. Ringtones - Midi / MP3 both are excellently reproduced and loud. Phonebook has space for 500 contacts with multiple entries like Mobile,Home.Office, E-Mail. SMS / MMS / E-Mail can be sent & received.
MULTIMEDIA : A VGA camera is provided for snaps & video recording. 16 MB is provided for storing data. Camera is quite good for a VGA one. Themes, wallpapers, ringtones (MP3/Midi) can be stored through USB / IR / Bluetooth and can be used to personalize your phone. Callers can be identified through a personal picture and ringtone. Java Games and Applications can be downloaded on to the phone.
OFFICE : Through GPRS the mobile can be used to surf the net or can be connected to a PC / Laptop via USB cable / Infrared / Bluetooth to be used as a GPRS modem. Push E-Mail is also supported via GPRS.

VERDICT : At a estimated street price of Rs.5,100/- (115 US $) its a great phone to own for people looking for official as well as personal use. A FM Tuner and EDGE capability would have made it Perfect.

COMPETITORS : Nokia 6070, Motorola L6i , Samsung X620.

Power it up

2007-03-14T17:33:00.000+05:30

In this era of Gadgets & Gizmos, every gadget we own runs on ordinary 'AA' / 'AAA' batteries or rechargeable batteries. Now almost every portable electronic device runs in Rechargeable batteries be it for your laptop, MP3 player or your mobile phone. The thing about rechargeable battery and getting the maximum out of it is a skill by itself. Some tips which i have found useful in maintaining my gizmo's batteries are,

Once getting a new device first charge your battery fully ( called "Breaking it in") and then for the first 2-3 recharge cycles drain your battery fully before recharging them else the capacity of the battery will reduce (called "Memory Effect")
For a device like laptop / digital camera / mp3 player when you are not using for a long period of time , take out the battery and store it in a cool and dry place(far away from any metallic objects).
To extend your battery life in critical situations where there in no charger in your hand mainly for your phone, try reducing the brightness (works for your laptop / mp3 player too), reduce the ring volume, switch off the vibration mode / bluetooth. Then as a last resort switch off your phone for a few minutes and then switch it on again.
For optimal and safe usage always buy original batteries. A rechargeable battery's lifecycle is measured by its recharge cycles, so after a "X" amount of recharging the life comes down drastically.

To get in-depth information on various types of batteries and the chemistry behind them visit GreenBatteries.com and BatteryUniversity.com.

Net Clips -II (CRICKET SPECIAL)

2007-03-11T10:54:00.000+05:30

As the 2007 World cup cricket is only days away , I found some funny clips on the net. Here is a bit for all you cricket crazy fans to enjoy

LAXMAN: available@home-only.com
KUMBLE: only@test_match.com
SACHIN: admitted@hospital.com
KAIF: good@for_nothing.com
SEHWAG: consistently@out_of_form.com
DRAVID: stick@crease_like_fevicol.com
PATHAN: takewickets @only_with_kenya.com
GREG CHAPPELL: only_experiment@noresult.com
MUNAF PATEL: only_line&length@nospeed.com
HARBHAJAN SINGH: no_spinpitch@nowicket.com
SURESH RAINA: why_i_am_there@god_knows.com

Spring Clean Ur PC

2007-03-06T10:13:00.000+05:30

This is that time of the year when many of you will clean your rooms / houses as a part of our lifetime routine called "Spring Cleaning". So have you ever thought of cleaning up your PC / Laptop ( Oops sorry no Macs !! ) and most importantly not with a broomstick / vaccum cleaner / cloth. Windows computers and the softwares we use on our daily usage generates lots of junk which clogs up our system and slows it down, so it is a worthwhile to clean your complete atleast once in a month.

I use a free software called CCleaner which I have found safe, easy and non-obtrusive to use. Some of its features I use and like are,

It can be used to delete all the browsing history(cookies, auto-complete,temporary files) stored in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera
It can clean out all the temporary installation files left out by installers of various softwares and junk files left out by many 3rd party softwares like OpenOffice, ZoneAlarm, Office,Acrobat Reader,Windows Media Player, winZip, Nero etc......
Safely removes junk and obsolete entries in Registry
Has a uninstaller and start-up list remover to see and delete any unwanted programs.

I've used it for the last 1 year and found it to be very useful in keeping my laptop fast and efficient. Its FREE and so hopefully you will start SPRING CLEANING your computers from today.....

Visitors who had used other similar software and will like to recommend to others ..please leave a comment here...THANKS !!!

J100i - Cute & Simple

2007-03-02T09:59:00.000+05:30

Looking for a phone for my mom, which has to be a PHONE not anything else (like what it was actually meant to do) I narrowed down to Nokia 1100 / 1110,Motorola C118 and Sony Ericsson J100i. Nokia 1100 was the actual choice because of its one button answer functionality, as there was already a 1100 in the home, I decided to go for J100i. For my budget of 2,000/- Rs (45 US $).

At 79g, with a 96 x 64 pixels 65K color screen with blue backlight it looks cool & cute. Here are some of the pros & cons of this phone.

PROS

Bright screen with bigger font which makes the no's and text more visible.
Ringtones are nice and loud.
Compact & Robust ( Dropped it a few times with no side effects)
Nice extras like Alarm Clock, Games, Stopwatch, wallpapers
Green call key brings up Answered / Dialled / Missed calls without needing to go through all the menus
Good standby and talk times of 3 1/2 days & 3 1/2 hours respectively

CONS

Screen is not visible in sunlight
Picture SMS & Mono - tones cant be received & sent like Nokia
No speed dialling ( But pressing a no. key will take u to the corresponding starting letter in the address book)
Keypad is like rubber and somewhat stiff.

And these are some of the points which can be pros for some and cons for some.

1. Phonebook capacity dependent on SIM ( SIM capacity is usually 250 nowadays)
2. SMS capacity - 30
3. Havent yet used the speaker phone facility so cant comment about it.

So people looking out for a Color phone to gift this HOLI here is the perfect gift for your near & dear ones......HAPPY HOLI !!!!!

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - IV

2007-02-27T10:06:00.000+05:30

Some funny SMS's I received this month...read it and enjoy,

Einstein's Philosophy Vol.23:
If ur not in lov with any girl,ur missing something in life.
If u lov any girl ,ur missing everything in ur life
Wife is a "Received call"
sight is a "Dialled call"
Girl friend is a "Missed call"
Lover is a "Waiting call"
BUT Friendship is "FEVICOL"
If you want 2 suceed in your life, be sweet as Honey,
Be regular as Clock,
Be fresh as rose,
Be soft as Tissue,
Be strong as Rock and,
Be good as Me!!

Blog on the Move

2007-02-22T17:28:00.000+05:30

Nowadays where many people have camera phones will one way or other want to share their "Kodak Moments" with family , friends or with entire world. Now a company called Shozu has come out with a software for mobile phone through which you can send / share your photos through e-mail or to your blog. To start sharing your photos / videos from your mobile, just follow these simple steps,

1. Go to Shozu website and sign-up for a free account.
2. Download the software to your mobile ( Check their compatibility list to see whether your mobile is supported and you need to have GPRS activated in your mobile phone)
3. Then start the application from your mobile and activate their service first.
4. Then you can add the destination (where you want to send your photos ) through your mobile or their website. Personally i feel, doing this through their website is easier.
5. Then from the Shozu application in your mobile all your photos & videos will be listed and you can send it to the destination you have configured.

I've sent a photo to My Flickr account in a few clicks. After the initial set-up phase sharing & sending is very easy. For some unfortunate reasons I was not able to set-up my blogger account as a destination. Shozu also has other services called Zucasts and back-up contacts which is supported only in mostly symbian and windows powered smartphones.

Now share your photos on the move ...Enjoy!!

Thru the eyes of my Z550i

2007-02-16T18:56:00.000+05:30

A few snaps taken with my Sony Ericsson Z550i ....

View from a Dam near my home town

Fountain show at Wonderla, Bangalore

For sharing photos / photo blogging there are many sites and Flickr is one of the most popular at present. In the next topic i will give you a new application for your mobile which lets you share / blog your photos in the internet.

Test ur MOBILE's STRENGTH

2007-02-10T10:51:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered how your mobile phone was able to perform all the camera capturing, music & games playing device it stands up to be. Actually all phones have processors ala your PC to perform these tasks. Here is a great utility called JBenchmark Ace from JBenchmark to assess your mobile phone / smart phone power.

Register for Free in their site and download the ACE application to your phone via wap, cable, IR or bluetooth and then run the application. I have put up the results of my Sony Ericsson Z550i here for reference,

CPU Class : ARM9
CPU MHz : 110 MHz
VM Type : AOT

To test the Java processing abilities of your phone there are JBenchmark 1.0, 2.0 and 3D which can be downloaded and run on your mobile. To download the ACE application via your mobile just point your mobile browser to http://wap.jbenchmark.com/ace

X.T.E.N.D ur Firefox - Part II

2007-02-06T10:58:00.000+05:30

Continuing from the previous post on some great Firefox add-ons. Here are some more for you to consider,

Sage by The Sage Team

Sage helps you discover and read RSS and Atom feeds from your favorite websites. Watch your friends’ blogs, or stay on top of hundreds of online publications with notification of new content and easy-to-read newspaper-like rendering.
Performancing by Performancing

Performancing is a full-featured blog editor that sits right in your Firefox browser and lets you post to your blog easily. You can drag and drop formatted content, including images, from the page you are browsing and take notes as well as post to your blog.
Jeteye by Jeteye Technologies, Inc.

Jeteye enables you to collect links, images, text, and videos into a Jetpak. Share Jetpaks with friends and family and make them public or private according to your preferences.
FoxyTunes by Alex Sirota

FoxyTunes places remote controls for the media player of your choice within Firefox so that you can control your music without leaving the browser.So enjoy your music while browsing in the same window with no hassles.
StumbleUpon by Geoff Smith

StumbleUpon allows you to discover and share great Web content matched to your personal preferences. Whether it's a website, video, picture, blog, StumbleUpon helps you find interesting pages recommended by like-minded people with a single click of the Stumble! button
del.icio.us Bookmarks by Yahoo! Inc.

This extension integrates your browser with del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/), the leading social bookmarking service on the Web.By using this with Firefox it makes it much easier to access your bookmarks wherever you are and keep them organized no matter how many you have.

If u have used and come across some useful add-ons please post it in the Comments section, I will come out with a Top-User Rated Add-Ons in the near future...so post your comments

X.T.E.N.D ur Firefox - Part I

2007-02-03T11:15:00.000+05:30

One of the many great features of Mozilla Firefox is that you can install add-ons to further facilitate your browsing and activities on the net. Here are some of Firefox add-ons which I would like to recommend,

FlashGot by Giorgio Maone

Flash got helps you to download one link, selected links, or all the links of a page at once with a single click by sending the request from your browser to any of the download utilities installed in your PC.

Note: Free DownloadManager is a great download manager which you can use for resuming of interrupted downloads, scheduling & acceleration.
Video Downloader

This cool add-on allows you to download videos from sites like YouTube, Google, Metacafe, iFilm etc. And you can also download embedded objects on a webpage like mp3, flash, video, quicktime.
Answers by Asher Szmulewicz

1-Click Answers™ saves you time by instantly delivering the information you are looking for. Press Alt (or Option on a Mac) and click any word to get a quick, relevant definition or explanation, drawn from a collection of over 100 reference titles.
JAJAH - Web-Activated Telephony by Gilad Katz

JAJAH lets you make free or very low cost global telephone calls directly from Firefox using your regular mobile or landline phone.
Adblock Plus by Wladimir Palant

To block out the ever annoying intrusive advertisements. If you encounter an ad your subscription does not take care of, right-click it and select “Adblock”.
Download Statusbar by Devon Jensen

Manage your Internet downloads from a tidy toolbar, without the download window getting in the way of your Web browsing. Despite its compact size, Download Statusbar packs in more useful features than the standard download window.

In the next part I will be listing out more great add-ons for Firefox. If you are interested in other open source software you can read about my 3 blogs on Open Source softwares here.

Swivel 2 ur Music

2007-02-01T09:55:00.000+05:30

Music phones are becoming a rage in the market now, and the Sony Ericsson W550i / W600i has lots going for it not only in the music department but also in the style , phone department.

As a Phone : G.O.O.D

With the swivel closed it is the same size of Sony Ericsson K700i with the extra thickness and the loop antenna at the top. Some may like it some don't, but at 120 grams it is comfortable to hold and talk. Even though newbies will find the swivel mechanism somewhat confusing you will be able to pick up in a few days and the keypad is comfortable to type in and the D-Pad is also easy to use. Phone is equipped with a 1000 memory phone book and after a long time SE has given birthday reminders as a special field in the address book. Pictures and ringtones can be customized for every person. Battery talk time and standby time seems to be much better than K700i.Sound through the speakerphone is bit soft.
For Messaging : V.E.R.Y G.O.O.D

The User Interface is tweaked a bit more from the K700i and is very user friendly. The D-Pad can be customized to have shortcuts. Messaging is a breeze with T9....from SMS, MMS to E-Mail everything is easy to use. For E-Mail we can set up our POP3 accounts to send and receive e-mail. MMS settings can be downloaded from the SE website for your Service provider. Message and GPRS data counters helps to keep track of the same.Now Message tones can be customized with our own MP3 tones.
MUSIC : V.E.R.Y G.O.O.D

As the famous brand name ’WalkMan’ suggests it is a Perfect music phone slighlty marred only by its limited memory capacity without the option for extending the memory using a memory Stick. Otherwise the Music Player lets you create playlists and with its MegaBass and Stereo Widening effects will blow away any other flash based MP3 player or any other music phone for that matter. The dedicated music button and Music mode lets you use it as standalone MP3 player. Transferring music is easy as using the USB cable provided along with the phone turns it into a USB mass storage device ala USB drive and just copy the music. The phone is also complemented with FM radio and you can plug your favourite 3.5 mm headphones. And now videos can be viewed through media player in full screen landscape mode. The music can run in the background whereby you will be free to do other tasks in the phone.
As a Camera : G.O.O.D

The 1.3 Megapixels camera works as though it is a cybershot digicam in the landscape mode with extensive settings for White balance and Night mode.Video can also be recorded limited only by the memory capacity. Camera performance is good in outdoor sunny conditions and comparing it to my friends6630 the performance was almost the same. For fun there are photo frames, a Photo Editor and a Video Editor to play around with the pictures and videos.
Connectivity : G.O.O.D

The phone comes with a USB cable as well as IR and bluetooth for wireless transfers. For Internet there is GPRS and there is inbuilt NetFront HTML browser to browser HTML sites but its capability is limited as it cant open large pages. But we can work around that by using Opera Mini and for a mini review on it please look at this post here. The only drawback is that it doesnt have EDGE which is present is SE W600i.
Customisation : V.E.R.Y G.O.O.D

The phone comes with a extra panel so that you can change the color of your phone as you wish but the original style-up covers are little costly. And like many other SE phones themes is a fantastic way to customize the phone with extra support for Flash Lite. Pictures, Themes and Ringtones (MP3,AAC) can be downloaded easily onto the phone and make your phone look different. For a start look at http://myw550.lasyk.net .

The 3D java games are lot of fun and you can find many more according to your liking.And the dedicated gaming buttons make it look and play like a gaming console. Other useful java applications include Worldtime and Unit converter.Note: SE W550i & W600i are exactly same except for 850 Mhz band and EDGE support in W600i.

At the current market price of 210 U.S$ (Rs. 9500) it has stiff competition from Nokia 5200,3230, Samsung X700, Moto RAZR V3i, Sagem My501X, SE's own W300i but teens / college Dudes & Dudettes / Party goers looking for a C-O-O-L Mobile should seriously consider this.

Gizmo Gyan & Fun - III

2007-01-25T10:56:00.000+05:30

Some nice SMSes I received this month which I would like to share with you guys,

If u luv my sms,it means I'm smart,
If u save, u agree I'm smart,
If u forward,u spread that I'm smart &
If u delete,u r jealous,coz I'M SMART...
I like 3 friends
1 is Sun
2 is Moon
3 is U
Sun for the "Day time"
Moon for the "Night time"
U for the "Life time" :-)
When life is a game i wish u always win,
When life is journey i wish u always walk on roses,
When life is fun i wish an EVERGREEN SMILE on ur face.....

Enjoy & Forward these to ur friends .................

OPEN SOURCE - FREE 4 ALL - PART III

2007-01-17T17:28:00.000+05:30

In the ongoing posts on Open Source Softwares, this is the third and final part mentioning some more open source softwares which are useful for various tasks on the PC. Here are a few,

FileZilla : FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. FileZilla Server is a reliable FTP server.
GAIM : Gaim is a GTK+ instant messaging application. It supports multiple protocols, including AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, IRC, Napster, Gadu-Gadu, Zephyr, and SILC. It has many common features found in other clients, as well as many unique features.
Azureus : Azureus is a powerful, full-featured, cross-platform bittorrent client.
QFlash : QFlash is a c++ open source IDE to create flash (swf) animation files. It uses ming and qt libraries.
Tetris Queen : Classic Tetris game to pass away your time with 50 levels and background music

Hope all found this Three Part edition useful ..will be out with more additions for the TECHIE COCKTAIL soon :-)

OPEN SOURCE - FREE 4 ALL - PART II

2007-01-12T17:55:00.000+05:30

Now continuing from my previous post, after a Open source OS people will mostly need various softwares for their various computational tasks. Here are some of the best Open Source softwares available in their respective category,

OpenOffice : A full fledged office suite consisting of Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation maker, Database manager.
Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird : Firefox one of the best & secure browsers available today and Thunderbird a excellent E-Mail client with POP / SMTP / IMAP and junk controls.
GIMP : A Open source image editing & creating software suitable for newbies and professionals alike.
Audacity : A fast multi-track audio editor and recorder for Linux, BSD, Mac OS, and Windows. Supports WAV, AIFF, Ogg, and MP3 formats. Features include envelope editing, mixing, built-in effects and plug-ins, all with unlimited undo.
Inkscape : A vector based drawing tool for creating buttons, banners, cliparts.

To know the latest open source projects and softwares available today visit www.sourceforge.net . In the next episode look out for more open source softwares available for Animation,IM, FTP, Torrents etc.

OPEN SOURCE - FREE 4 ALL

2007-01-10T11:23:00.000+05:30

I would like to emphasize here the practicality and usability of open source softwares. Most people think opensource softwares are for techies and nerds, but this is a wrong notion. A strong revolution is underway in the open source community which is making people stand-up and look at the Open source community. For a detailed definition and history of Open Source Software I would like you to visit Wikipedia homepage on this topic.

And the most important software component for a PC / Laptop is the Operating System. I would like to suggest two flavors of Linux which will give you a idea about how a FREE OS can bring you all the benefits required for all the mundane activities and much more.

Ubuntu - Look at this flavor of linux which has strong technical support team to back you up. For people who cant download the software order your own copy of Ubuntu Linux for free.

Fedora - Initially started as a part of RedHat community this is also a excellent flavor of Linux which you can try.

In the next part i will bring to you some open source software alternatives which you can use for your office applications, image editing activities.

PC <-> MobilePhone => Softwarezzzz

2007-01-06T19:03:00.000+05:30

Almost all mobile phone users out there would like or will be using mobilephone management softwares to sync , download / upload files from your phone to your PC / Laptop. For those who want to know, here is a list of management software from the leading mobile phone vendors for their respective phones,

Nokia - Nokia PC Suite : A great all in one software for managing all the data in your Nokia phone. Visit www.nokia.com to download the latest version.

Motorola - MobilePhone Tools: Take a look at www.hellomotto.com for phone compatibility and features

Samsung - PC Link : Drop in at www.samsungmobile.com to get the latest software for your samsung phone

Sony Ericsson - PC Suite : Having lots of tools to manage your sony ericsson phone , visit www.sonyericsson.com for more details.

But I would like to introduce / refer to you two free mobilephone management software especially for Sony Ericsson phones. They are,

Float's Mobile Phone Agent: A great software from sourceforge, its a absolute dream for managing SE mobiles like syncing your phonebook, calendars, tasks and uploading / downloading of files. Even your phone calls can be answered through your PC or your sms can be sent from the PC. To get your copy visit http://fma.sourceforge.net

MyPhone Explorer : Another excellent software made for SE mobiles with excellent phone management capability. Now you store / backup your sms's, files, contacts so that even after a crash / accidental erasure all data can be restored to your phone in a jiffy. To download the latest version go to http://www.fjsoft.at/en/

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

2006-12-31T21:41:00.000+05:30

A piece of info to start this new year :

Do u know speciality of this new year. It starts with monday and ends also on monday. No public holidays on sundays. This year has got highest number of sundays and saturdays. So enjoy the least working year in your life! 2007- a year with a difference!

Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year 2007 !!!

Find your Zen

2006-12-21T11:35:00.000+05:30

Missing in my collection of gadgets & gizmos was a " Digital Audio Player" or according to some people "IPOD". My wishlist for a DAP was that it should be feature packed, should act as a Mass Transfer device to just copy and paste my music from my laptop and should have a nice informative screen for viewing my music info. Looking for such a gizmo for a budget of 100 $, I had my radar set on Ipod Shuffle (1 GB), Sony NW-E005, iAudio U3, Creative Zen V / V Plus. Looking around the web for various opinions & reviews I settled for the Creative Zen V Plus (1GB) for 100$. Thanks to my brother I got it as a gift. Now to some hands on details of the ZEN V PLUS - 1GB.

In the Box

Zen V Plus, USB cable, Line-in cable,Software CD, Pouch, Manual

Music Functionality

It can play MP3, WMA and supports sorting by Albums / Artists / Genre. Customizable playlists and equalizer makes it a pleasure to hear your music. The sound quality is very good and the bass & treble are very clear. The "Now Playing" screen shows all the info of MP3 files like Title,Album , Artist and even album art if you have one. The CD has a Creative media explorer software to transfer music and setup playlist or people with Windows Media player can sync with it. Or "no-hassles" version is to just copy & paste the songs into the removable drive. It also has a FM functionality. Another cool feature is that you can use the Line-in cable to transfer music from your casette / CD player even without a PC. It supports pay per download music too.

Photo / Videos Functionality

The difference between a Zen V and V Plus is that the latter has video playback and FM. The 1.5" OLED color screen is good for viewing photos and short video clips. At this price range the Zen has a screen to match any of its competitors. Photos can be viewed as slideshow when hearing music in the background. Videos for the Zen can be converted using the converter software given in the CD. The only drawback is that even a one minute video takes up large sizes.

Extras

The Zen has a voice recorder and you can listen to your podcast. And the CD has a podcast organizer too. It also can be synced with Outlook to view your address book, tasks and calendar schedules. It also has a alarm clock to wake you up. There are also themes and wallpapers to customize your zen. And one another cool feature is that the screen can orient itself according to the angle which we hold the player. Creative comes out with
firmware updates to correct bugs and minor improvements which we can download from the net and install it by ourselves.

Accessories

People who think IPOD has only accessories please look again, Zen has skin cover (various colors) even with a armband. And Creative has also come out with a docking station for the Zen. And for people who think it takes ages to charge with the USB cable can buy a AC Power charger.

The battery lasts for 14-15 hours and with some efficient battery management tips like - reduced screen brightness and not fiddling the player would make the player go for a bit more. Games and a TFT screen would have made it 101% perfect. But as such there is no such thing as PERFECT in this world. All in All a wothy buy for this holiday season.

So for people looking for a no - hassle DAP can go for the Zen which is available in two versions ( V & V Plus) at different capacities such as 1GB,2GB,4GB and in different colors.

Gizmo Gyan & Fun-II

2006-12-16T11:24:00.000+05:30

In this week, this is one of the many smses I received. Hope you guys / gals like it,

GOD is like software programme:
He enters ur life,
Scan ur problem,
Edit ur tension,
Download solutions,
Delete ur worries and
saves YOU!
Have a nice day.

Browse on the move .... WWW

2006-12-12T18:27:00.000+05:30

Lots of people might be browsing using your mobilephone / smartphone with the built-in browsers given by your handset manufacturer and sometimes these browsers , mainly in low and middle end handsets are not upto the mark when browsing full fledged web portals. So here is one of the best and formidable players on this market, the brand new Opera Mini 3.0.

The latest version supports RSS feeds, photo sharing, bookmarks, skins, content download, secure sites, History, search engine,page zoom and landscape mode. And the most important thing is it recognizes your phone's capabilities and optimizes Web pages accordingly for fast and easy browsing.

So from a phone as cheap as 100$ with a color screen & GPRS to a 400$ smartphone this gives a great way to browse the Www on the move.On the down side there is now way to see flash and quicktime / wmv movies as yet.

To get your copy just point your browser to : http://mini.opera.com

For a live demo : http://www.operamini.com/features/start/

NOTE: Google has come out with a Java App to get GMail on your mobile just go to the link: http://www.gmail.com/app using your phone.

Some Information & picture courtesy of Opera Mini website

Gizmo Info on the Net

2006-12-05T12:00:00.000+05:30

Some of the gadget and gizmo review sites / forums i have come up on the net,

CNet Asia - asia.cnet.com - Lots of reviews, info, news about electronic gadgets released in Asia
Zdnet - www.zdnet.com - Another site with lots of reviews
Widgx - www.widgx.com - News on new technology, gadgets and rumors
Esato - www.esato.com - Lots of Mobile news & a great place for Sony Ericsson fans
Infosyncworld - www.infosyncworld.com - News / Reviews on electronic hardware released in US / EU regions
GSM Arena - www.gsmarena.com - The place for finding specs, reviews on GSM phones

Net Clips - I

2006-11-25T18:00:00.000+05:30

A interesting quote i came across in the "web" .......

In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.

- Bertrand Russell

Gizmo GYAN & FUN - I

2006-11-23T10:46:00.000+05:30

Some quickies to ease your day...

Opinions are like watches......!Everyone's watch shows different time....... but, Everyone believes that their time is correct.
Carry_a_heart that never hates. Carry_a_smile that never fades. Carry_a_touch that never hurts &always Carry a Friendship that never ends.
Definition of a KISS, from the educational point of view..!
MATHEMATICS:-Kiss is the shortest distance between two Lips.!
ECONOMICS:-Kiss is that thing for which the DEMAND is always higher than the SUPPLY.!
PHYSICS:-Kiss is the powerful process of charging two human bodies in a short time.!
COMPUTER:-Kiss is just like a LAN, in which two bodies are connected without any DATA CAB.!
Class Over !

Access Internet on the Move - GPRS ......

2006-11-15T10:59:00.000+05:30

In the last two topics I've talked about accessing mails, news and chat from your mobilephones. To do these you first of all need a GPRS enabled phone and a provider who provides you with GPRS service. GPRS is short form for General Packet Radio Service which was the start of 2.5G in the mobile phone era. This was followed by EDGE (Enhanced GPRS) and now 3G technology. But in India, 3G technology will most probably arrive in the year 2007. Till then we have to make do with GPRS and EDGE in some areas. Not only does the handsets (depends on the model) can access internet through their browsers they can also be used as a modem for your desktop PC / Laptops. Here are some of the GPRS plans provided by some of the GSM operators for postpaid users in India,

1. AirTel (TamilNadu) - There are 3 plans available,

* 100 KB / Re. 1 - No monthly rental
* 100 MB / Rs. 399/- per month
* 1 GB / Rs. 599/- - per month

* Rs. 20/- per day for unlimited usage ( Prepaid)

2. Hutch (Chennai) - There are 3 plans available

* 10 KB / 5 Paisa - Rs. 199/- per month
* 500 MB / Rs. 499/- per month
* 1 GB / Rs. 699/- - per month

3. BSNL CellOne (TamilNadu)

* 5 MB / Rs. 49/- per month - Beyond free usage Re.0.01/per KB
* Unlimited - Rs.199/- per month

For each region / states the tariff plan may vary so please check with the custome care of your Service provider. CDMA users (Code Division Multiple Access) like Reliance, Tata Indicom have their own tariffs for accessing internet. Now providers like AirTel, Hutch provide Blackberry services and also Windows Mobile service. Please check out their websites for detailed information.

Web on the Move

2006-11-11T17:49:00.000+05:30

In this section, I would like to mention some of the sites which you can take with your mobile, be it for e-mail, reading news or downloading stuff for your mobile,

* Yahoo - http://wap.oa.yahoo.com/ (or) mm.yahoo.com. This gives you access to a host of Yahoo services like e-mail, messenger,address book, news, sports, finance etc.

* BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/ - All international news, sports available here

* GMail - http://m.gmail.com/ - Mobile edition for all you GMail users

* Esato - http://wap.esato.com/ - A Great forum for mobile users especially Sony Ericsson fans and lots of free themes available for Sony Ericsson mobiles.

These are some WAP sites for downloading wallpapers, ringtones, themes

* http://www.t610wap.com

* http://www.jiwang.org/wap

* http://www.polyphonicringtonez.com/wap

* http://wap.zedge.net/

IM on the Move

2006-11-06T23:07:00.000+05:30

For people who want to take their Messenger buddies wherever they go on their mobile, there are excellent Java based clients (J2ME) giving you a opportunity to send messages to your buddies as well as send Picture messages. Some of them I have used and know are listed below,

* Mig33 : This client is free and you need to get enrolled in their site at www.mig33.com . You can access AOL,Yahoo & MSN IM and also use to make cheap calls and sms throughout the world. And you get free credits for referrring your family & friends.

* Reporo : This is also a free Java based client which takes messaging to the next level by giving you opportunity to share images along with text. It also shows content from BBC News and sports website.

* Mobispine : This free Java based client not only lets you chat, share images but also lets you blog directly from your mobile.

Some other clients are available at www.eqo.com , www.cellserf.com , www.mobile.yahoo.com . Here Yahoo! Go available for symbian phones is a bit special as it allows you to access a host of Yahoo services from their software.

For all these software to work you need a compatible handset (check each site for phone compatibility) and a data plan from your service provider. All these software will need a full fledged GPRS facility to work properly.

So get going and take ur BUDDIES wherever U - GO .........................

Sony Ericsson Z550i,Flip - It - Japanese Style

2006-11-03T10:54:00.000+05:30

1. Build & Looks : Finishing similar to Sony Ericsson K700i and weighing at 89g its a stylish phone and the hinge and build quality is excellent. The external screen is monochrome with useful details about network,battery,Message / Call indicators,Time etc.

2. Call & Reception : I have never had any problems with my previous Sony Ericssons and this is the case with Z550i too. Reception and speaker volume is clear and loud. And there is also a speakerphone option. One nifty feature is that during calls you can go to main menu and even send sms in the background. The battery lasts for 3 days at the max with 4 hours talk time.

3. Messaging : The User interface is very intuitive with customizable shortcuts. Messaging like SMS / MMS is a breeze. E-Mails can be sent / received through the inbuilt mail client with a GPRS connection

4. Multimedia : Camera @ 1.3 Mpx seems not as good as the W550i or the K510i. But I think a future firmware upgrade will fix this problem. And the ringtones are tad softer compared to my previous W550i. Otherwise the media player is excellent for hearing music in MP3,AAC,M4A formats and viewing videos in 3GP,MP4 format. And here there is no full screen video playback & MegaBass which was present in W550i. But this can be used a multimedia device because Memory Stick micro upto 1GB can be added to the existing 20 MB internal memory.There is also FM Radio with RDS which can be used with the given Stereo headset.

5. Connectivity : Infrared is absent but Bluetooth, USB option is present and pairing with any device is very easy. For browsing GPRS is present and a in built HTML Netfront browser is good. But Opera mini is more capable alternative to the inbuilt browser. There is a application whereby users can see RSS feeds.

6. Games / Apps : There are inbuilt 3D java games and there are many more java games in the net to kill your
time. And in the productivity department even though this is not a smartphone there are apps like World Clock, Unit Converter, E-Book reader, Instant Messengers (which can run in the background).
For fun there is a face warp application, Music DJ,PhotoDJ and Video DJ to edit music,photos , videos respectively.

Possible Competitors: Motorola RAZR V3i, Nokia 6125,SE W300i