Tuesday, 18 October 2011

SAMSUNG Galaxy Nexus


Start with this. Looks Awesome, Doesn't it?? But this was more about ice-cream sandwich. Lets get to the device hardware first.

4.65" Display size                        :- Big display with 720p resolution,
720p Display                                  you can't differentiate between pixels.

5 MP camera with flash                :- Not that good for a phone of price above 25k. Should have been
1080p @30fps video recording       at least 8MP. Still resolution is very high and Full HD video rec.


1.3 MP front cam                            compensates it. Almost all phones till now have VGA cams in front
                                                       this one's has been upgraded to 1.3MP. Don't know if network will be
                                                       able to transmit that quality of video(at least not in India).

1.2 GHz Dual core processor       :- Very good processor indeed, decent RAM standard 16-32 GB
1GB RAM                                      memory .

16/32 GB internal memory

4G Network capability                  :- 2G scam not over yet, feels bad to know 4G enabled devices are out.

And now the biggie first phone showcasing Android 4.0 Ice-cream Sandwich.



 Android market is increasing day by day. Google is updating very fast, fixing bugs etc. New in the market it has come a long way. You know about Gingerbread so I'll stick to the newly added features.

Face Recognition:- Don't know how responsive it will be but we can expect perfection from Google  and with Nexus having 1.3MP front cam.

New improved Notification

Better Graphics :- Looking very good
New Home-screen widgets:- Now get fb notifications on the home-screen itself.
New call rejection system, giving you options on how to reject, like with message etc.
Google's own Siri i.e. voice commands.
All in all a good package, lets see if the price makes it a must buy or we'll have to go for iPhone only!!

Saturday, 15 October 2011

iOS v/s Android

First things first, this is not iPhone v/s an Android "phone". I am just going to discuss about the operating systems, so no comparisons of the battery life, cameras, sound quality etc.




Now before Android 2.1, if you tried comparing any phone with an iPhone you would be dumb, coz' iPhone with all its hardware had an unfair advantage over all others which is its software. The biggest contribution made by Steve Jobs when he was not in Apple to Apple and to the world was his (finally known to be)software company NeXT(how??). But now if anything can come even closer to iOS its Google's Android. It'll not be wrong if I say that iOS 5 kind of copied notifications and wireless sync from Android.

Lets get to the facts now,

1.  Android is an open source OS, i.e. anyone can make an app for Android phones and any Android user can use it. But with iOS Apple is very particular about what apps its users are allowed to use unless you jailbreak yours. Apple even charges a 30% share for every app.Google Android is free.

     Verdict: Whats good in this is that Apple is more secure, whereas Android is prone to Viruses and bugs in apps.But that restricts the no. of apps. for iOS and Android is catching up fast. So it all depends on your downloading instincts.

2.  Android provides with Home-screen widgets which have become very popular. Not even the latest version of iOS has it.




     Verdict: 1-0 for android

3.  Android can run Flash whereas iOS cannot. I am not talking about the camera flash. I am talking about the flash player apps.

     Verdict: There are enough apps. already, but can be a problem if you want a specific flash app.

4.   Android has become the 2nd fastest OS after iOS in very less time and is improving. It has a bigger market as phones of different companies can have Android(except Apple). So you can be loyal to your favorite brand like nokia and still have an OS that does not hang up every single time you try to use it. Apple's philosophy of Hardware and Software being twins and should be born together has been good till now, but Google has found an answer for it and its Android. It lets the creativity of the Phone  manufacturer to come into play and bring more out of its OS.




     Verdict: Good that you get more choices in terms of the looks for an Android phone as well as different price range. You can get an Android from 6000-30000. But there is only one iPhone upgraded with new hardware every year with minute changes in the body.

5.  Now lets come to the final blow!! At T3 Gadget Awards 2011 surprisingly Samsung Galaxy S II was crowned the phone of the year beating iPhone 4. Both have comparable hardware, what really stood out was how Samsung integrated Android in its device that helped it beat iPhone4("surprisingly").


      Verdict: Android is coming in at a very fast rate, Apple needs be more alert and creative with its software with a competition popping out out of nowhere. With the sole founder of Apple's Software development section NeXT Steve Jobs gone, its not going to be a clean sweep as earlier times when Apple has the monopoly in software.

Final Verdict: Head to head competition, with no one winning currently difficult to say which ones gonna win in the long run.This competition is going to be less about "Who wins??" and more about "Who's gonna let go" first??"

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Hyundai Eon

Hyundai launches the new Eon, a new model in the entry level segment.



Specs.
814cc(0.8L) engine
 56PS@5500rpm maximum power
7.65Kgm@4000rpm peak torque
21.1kmpl (claimed)
5-speed manual transmission
Fluidic Design
And now the biggest attraction, starting at 2.65 lakhs




Highest mileage in the segment with the lowest price with hyundai's experience in the segment, what else do you need!!
Alto sales are expected to crash, with EON taking over the market with its features.





Wednesday, 12 October 2011

T3 Gadgets of the year


 Here are some of the best surprises of the year!!

Gadget of the year: Xbox Kinect 


As expected, its got the best motion sensor gaming experience till date. Once you start playing, you cant move away from it.



Computer of the year: Mac Book Air
 No surprises there!!

Commuter Gadget of the year: Amazon Kindle
 
 Getting popular day by day this Reader has got everything that you need from Wi-Fi to download e-books to big bright display.

Tablet of the year: iPad 2

 Launched within an year after ipad 1 this dynasty of gadgets have defined a new category, and its not surprising that the son of the creator of the category gets the award in the same!!

Phone of the year: Samsung Galaxy S II

 Big surprise there as it beat up iPhone 4 to award. Launched last year, this thin guy boasts an android gingerbread for OS. I think this win is for Android rather than for Samsung.

Tech Brand of the year: Google

No surprises there too, with Android, Google+, YouTube being the contributing factors.

Tech Guru of the year: Mark Zukerberg 


This Young Guy became the first to break Google's take at Social Networking. 2nd year in college if you can take Google down and keep it that way then you've owned that position!!

Work Gadget of the year: Blackberry bold 9780


Blackberry can't miss on this category, its got its monopoly in this. Black berry and White collar is the trend today!!
 Retailer of the year: Amazon
All set to set foot in India, this award would be a confidence booster for amazon in a completely new market.

Digital media service of the year: Twitter

Yup this ones apt, for 50% controversies popped up from this website in India.

Gadget Accessory of the year: Eye-Fi Pro X2 card

Now this ones a biggie. A Wi-Fi hub in a memory card??
Yeah, most cameras won't have a Wi-Fi port so this one is for them. You just need a Hot spot and all your photos and videos will be uploaded to fb, YouTube or even you laptop, ipads etc. Not good as there are very less Hot spots in India but a must buy in other countries. But you can still sync it with your laptop or android device. Its got this infinite memory option, that will keep on uploading the data to other devices and deleting the original copy giving you more memory in hand.



Saturday, 8 October 2011

We will miss you Steve Jobs!!

"He was neither an engineer nor a manager, still he headed the biggest tech company in the world"

Apple, has become a hot favorite in every category it has stepped in, all due to Steve's ideology. The way he presented the products, improved them and stood by his decisions were all idealistic. He was a visionary.

After leading a complicated life during his childhood Jobs finally went to Reed college. But he soon dropped out after 1st semester. After he dropped out of college, he felt free and started taking the classes he liked not the one he was bound to(For e.g. Calligraphy etc.). In his own words, "Taking this classes helped making a difference to the Mac, like the calligraphy class I took helped to give a brilliant typography it and since Windows copies Mac no computer would have had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts".

Working with Steve Wozniack at Hewlett Packard, Jobs managed earn a living. He found a good friend in Wozniack, and later persuaded him to assemble a computer. Both founded Apple. All went well until by the end of 1984, Apple's sales dropped and Jobs was relieved of his duties at Apple. How bad is it to be thrown out of your own company!!
None the less Jobs felt that it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was not going to give up on anything. So he started his own company NeXT Computers in 1985. By 1986 he also bought The Graphics Group (currently known as Pixar). By 1990 The first NeXT Computer was launched. By the mid 90's NeXT became a software development firm, whose products were later adopted in Apple to develop iTunes etc. 1996 Apple bought NeXT Computers for $429 million with it bringing back the co-founder of Apple. NeXT projects were used extensively in Apple, like the NeXTSTEP went on to become Mac OS, which is by far the best in its kind. Apple's success story depends mostly on its software programs, that were ultimately designed by the NeXT. So the time Jobs remained out of Apple, he was "non-intentionally" working for the success of Apple. In the mean time Pixar was bought by Disney, giving Jobs 7% share in the company, highest single shareholding ever. With everything back on track, Jobs never looked back. He worked hard, achieved his goals, and we know now where he has led his company to. In his time as CEO he revolutionized the world. Weather it were the iPods, the ipad or the iPhone, all defined a new category and perfection. All because of the simple idea of Steve Jobs that "Hardware and Software should be made together".

We will miss you Mr. Steve Jobs!!

Friday, 7 October 2011

Its iPhone 4S not 5!!

First things first, its not iPhone 5 its iPhone 4S so stop saying iPhone 5 is coming again and again. 

Secondly, its outer body is the same as iPhone 4 not the transparent one or the one projecting the screen and the keyboard.




Most of the perks added being advertised to lure the customers are of iOS 5 which will all be there on all the older versions of iphone and ipod touch.


Whats new??
  1. The all new A5 processor is the upgraded version of the older A4 one. It increases the graphic performance significantly.
  2. A better camera of 8 megapixel, that can even record videos at 1080p at 30 fps(frames per second)
  3. Dual antennas for CDMA and GSM, with in-call antenna switching capabilities(solving the old antenna problem). This increased the weight a little bit.


As can be seen the outer body is exactly the same, but the core has been changed to A5 and a better camera has been installed. Thats all that the S has offered in iphone 4S. Rest is the same.What significantly will change your experience with this phone is the new OS. iOS 5 has got the notification center (like the android), its got Siri(The advanced voice commands responder), the faster Safari and alot more(200+ more as they say it).

Thus if you don't have an iphone, well you don't have an iphone!!

Sorry about that, if you don't have an iPhone 4 then go for iphone 4S, but if you've just bought an iphone then you should wait for iPhone 5 to bring something new to the table, which it will definitely will!!

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Desi Tablet!!

Apple iPad 2 price in India is Rs. 36551/-
Samsung Galaxy Tab price in India is Rs. 32999/-.
Datawind UbiSlate price in India ..::::1750/- ::::...

No a zero is not missing there, also it is not another chinese mobile. It is the Indian govt.'s latest venture to provide tablet PC's at such a low cost. Why are they doing this??
I don't know!!
Seriously speaking the most amazing thing about this is that it costs less than the 16GB memory units installed in the other 2 tabs (A 16 GB MicroSD varies from Rs. 1200 - 2000)
Lets get to the current specs of the tablet


  1. 7" Resistive touch screen                                             
  2. Wi-Fi
  3. 2 USB Ports
  4. 2GB internal storage
  5. MicroSD slot(expandable upto 32GB)
  6. 2G Card enabled with data plans starting from 99/month
  7. Android 2.2 OS
7 inch wide screen, wide enough. But its resistive, remember how we hated the resistive touch screen  (http://msgmech.blogspot.com/2011/09/feel-touch.html). Wi-Fi enabled device is a necessity today and the best way to access fast speed internet without the cumbersome wires. 2 USB ports, required to connect Pendrives, or maybe datacards. 2GB internal storage is bad but is expandable so not much of a problem. THE BIGGEST PERK OF THEM ALL IS ANDROID 2.2. Support for 2G cards for internet access. No 3G.

Cost cutting strategies, Difference between 30000 and 1750!!
  1. Resistive touchscreen instead of Multi-touch Capacitive touch
  2. 2GB instead of 16GB (You can cover that with another 1500 for a memory card)
  3. 2G instead of 3G
  4. I don't think this covers the gap, Do you???
The only OS today that can even come close to iOS is Android. And you have it in this guys. So cheer up guys you'll get your fruit ninja in this. But you may not like the feel because of the touch. But you saved a hefty sum of Rs. 28,000/- so learn to adjust.
Future plans
The CEO of Datawind claims that with an order of 3Million pieces, it will be able to add a capacitive touchscreen and a 3G modem at the same cost. Solves two of the biggest problems. I think that would be the complete tablet.

So if you go by my advice, Wait for that 3 Million mark!!





Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Firefox DownloadHelper

One of the most popular browsers is the Mozilla Firefox. You would like to make the most out of your browser. The biggest problem while surfing the net is that you hear a song or watch a video that you like but you cannot get it to download coz its only for listening or viewing, like the YouTube etc. But how good would it be if your download was just a single click away. DownloadHelper provides you with this feature to get to download anything streaming live, weather .mp3, .mp4, .flv etc. What you need is Mozilla Firefox, and a plugin called DownloadHelper. An icon like this will appear adjacent to your address bar.




While playing the video or streaming the mp3 just click on this icon, it will give you the available files and the different qualities in which they are available. Just Select one and click download and its done.


Your file will start downloading and will automatically be saved on your pc in a separate folder. Sorry for the chrome lovers Google does not allow any plugins like this. There is still a way to download videos on chromE which will be separate article. Just wait, till then try using firefox!! 

Get the plugin from the following link:

MSG

Saturday, 1 October 2011