Nokia has launched a iPhone like device – the N8.

Cool features include:

• HD video recording
• 12 MP camera
• HDMI output with dolby output
• Integrated social networking
• WebTV
• 50 hours of music playback

For complete specs please visit:

http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n8/specifications

Please check: http://aavaas.com/2010/04/28/nokia-n8-video/ for the video

For Part – 1 of the review, please click here

The player is really small. Well not as small as the shuffle, but small enough to be carried out on workouts. It is large enough to be noticed and turn a few heads…

Very simple design is what pulled me to the player in the first place. It has a metal ring on top and a 3.5mm jack at the bottom. On on side it has a power button with FwD and PREV buttons and the other side has SHUFFLE/EQ button with VOL+ and VOL-. All functionalities of the player are managed by  these 6 buttons. And the location of the buttons ensure that there is no accidental pressing.

Click Image to enlarge

Operation is simple – press the power button and music starts. press it again and it stops (pauses actually, which means the next time you turn it on, it resumes from where you left it last). Press the FWD or PREV button fast to change tracks. Keep them pressed and release them to forward or advance the current track.

The SHUFFLE/EQ button is a nice thing too. Keep it pressed briefly and it toggles from normal mode to shuffle mode and another such press would do the opposite. Short presses would cycle you through the preset equalizers that are built in. There are 9 modes to choose from and this player boasts of BBE technology being built in. Cool thing is that a voice guides you on the eq setting that you are choosing.

It really is that simple. The built in ear phones are not very good. They are large and not very comfortable to wear. So I suggest you upgrade the earphones to in-ear type to truly appreciate the audio quality of iAudio/Cowon players. BBE enhancements for bass etc are more pronounced with good quality earphones.

One of the gripes with this product which many had pointed out was that there was no ability to skip folders. So if you have 500 songs in the player, you have to go from song to song until you find the one you like. This can be negated if you carefully choose what songs you put in the player in the first place. But this still remained a problem. Remained? Yes, today when I visited the Cowon site, I found that there is a firmware upgrade available for this device which now supports folder skipping. This is an awesome update and I cant wait to get it on my new player.

Even the firmware upgrade is revolutionary. No need to install any application on your device. You just have to copy the firmware onto the device and remove the earphone. The device updates itself automatically. How cool can things get !

I am still hunting for an arm band for this player to help me better manage the cable mess. But even without it, it is simply great.

File transfer and charging is though a supplied USB – custom 3.5mm jack. USB seems to be high speed which means you dont wait for a long time to transfer the files onto the player. Only concern is that since the cable is non standard, you can pretty much box your player if you loose/damage the cable. So keep it very carefully.

If you need more information, leave your comments below. I will try and post some pictures later..

Here are the tech specs for the player:

Sound Enhancements: BBE, BBE ViVa, BBE ViVa 2, BBE Mach3Bass, BBE MP, BBE Headphone 1, BBE Headphone 2, and BBE Headphone 3

Data Transfer: MSC via 4-pole to USB cable

Battery Life: 11 Hrs. (charge time 1.5 hrs)

Audio Support: MP3, WMA, FLAC, OGG, Wav

Weight : 16.6 grams

I am a tech enthusiast. Having moved to a new job in Mumbai, meant that I had to plan my fitness regime. I started the daily walk/jog routine and I think we all know how boring this can be! Hence I started listening to music to enjoy what I was doing – even more. I started using my Zune 30 which needs no introduction.

It is a first generation MP3 player from Microsoft which is very bulky and not suitable for jogging. (fine for brisk walking though)..Later I switched to my Nokia E63, which is no audiophile device.

The built in equalizers don’t work for god sake…The phone was lighter than the zune but still was bulky to carry for a jog. Then I borrowed my friend’s iPod Nano which even had a arm band for the fitness freaks.

Nano however didnt please me because its controls were very messy. The famous apple click wheel is not the best of options while you are walking jogging. With these three trials in mind, I decided to go for a new MP3 player – which really was an excuse to buy a new gadget! The same way, buying the E63 was an excuse when I had a decent phone already! But hey, the E63 did give me a lot of functionality which I really dig. But more about that in a separate article.

Coming back to the MP3 players, I visited two stores to see the options. eZone and Tata Croma.

They all had a plethora of devices ranging from simple players to advance PMP like the iPod touch and the like. My intentions were clear from the beginning. I needed something small, minimalistic and having display was really not necessary. I had three options in front of me.

a) Sony Walkman with a USB connector built in.

b) iPod shuffle

c) A seemingly unknown player which had plain looks – the iAUDIO E2 player (which was only available in Tata Croma)

In the first couple of visits I ignored item #3 because it really was not appealing. I even forgot the brand name and googled for “iriver player” only not to find any player which I saw in the store.

As with many things in life, I decided to eliminate options to narrow down on my selection. The survival of the fittest kind of principle. I eliminated the Sony because it was long and seemingly bulky. But its weight was really not an issue. Its just that the form factor seemed dated and I really didn’t find it appealing to start with.

I really liked the looks of iPod shuffle. The clip was a practical feature in the player and could have been the perfect companion for me during my workouts. But it so happens that the player really has no buttons on it. Yeah, you read it correct. Instead apple has moved all  the controls on the earphone. This means two things.

1) You have to grope for the earphone cable and press the right button without even knowing which is which….

2) (this is my biggest gripe) – you cannot use your standard earphones with the nano !!

So this was out of the picture as well.

That left the iAUDIO E2 player in the race. I wasn’t very convinced about the player. The sound quality, the order in which it played the songs and many such questions remained unanswered.

My friend and I tested the player with a set of creative earphones and the sound quality seemed pretty decent. When we asked the sales person about the order in which the songs are played, he remarked that it only plays them in a shuffled mode! This was a deal breaker because I wanted flexibility in what I listed to. I am not a big fan of randomness. I guess no one except mathematics is.

So we did a last minute product review online (thanks to the E63) and found that the playback can be customized to be either random or regular at a touch of a button. This is all I needed to hear. I picked up a black E2 player with a capacity of 4GB.

2GB price = 2499/-
4GB price = 2999/-

More detailed review in Part  – 2..Stay tuned.

Today was a rather difficult day for folks in Chennai who relied on BSNL broadband connection. Since around 1000 HRS local time, the modem just would not respond to the connection attempts either from the Netgear wireless router or the main PC via a PPPOE connection. On calling the toll-free number for BSNL – 1500, we realized that an Optic Fiber Cable was severed somewhere rendering the whole of Chennai subscriber base in stone age.

I was desperate to get online but nothing worked. Finally I found my old dial-up serial modem from D-Link (DFM 560ES Modem from D-Link. ) sitting on top of the almirah. Dusting it and connecting it, I was able to make it talk to a new OS – Vista. Surprisingly the same old tricks which worked in Windows ME and XP worked here too and I was able to get the modem to dial out the number.

 Image Courtesy : tienda.jmo.cl. Shown here : DFM 560EL Modem from D-Link.

But it was more than 3 years since I had used a dial up connection. Obviously I did not have an account. But here is were the accountless internet service from BSNL came to the rescue. It is simple:

• Configure your modem to dial 17-22-22
• Your username is “44-followed by your 8 digit BSNL phone number” (if you are in Chennai)
• Your password is “bsnl1234″

That is it. You are set to dial up and browse the net. Frankly GPRS and EDGE enabled phones are probably faster but this worked. The only issue is that most of the websites including Aavaas have been fine tuned for broadband experience and even instant messenger websites refused to work.

But if you have urgent mails to send or receive or you want to do some searching online, dial-up is a good way. The other options are to run to the nearest web browsing centre. But I would never touch that mouse and keyboard !

Airtel, Tata and other broadband service providers were not affected today.

With the advent of digital cameras, no one these days actually buys the good old film based cameras. Even professionals who had these SLR cameras are switching over to Digital SLR cameras. With so much of exodus going on in the camera industry, wouldn’t you expect the same in the photo frames market too? Well, guess what? Digital photo frames are here.

Click on image to enlarge. Image Courtesy : blogs.zdnet.com

Digital photo frames are wonderful devices. They have a color LCD screen inside, similar to the ones found in laptops. They also have an inbuilt memory where you can load images and advanced models have memory card slots where you could put in the card directly from your camera into the frame.

You can choose the rate at which the picture changes and also play with various other settings. Really advanced models sync with your computer via a wireless network and display all the latest images.

Digital Photo Frames are real fun especially when you want to show a lot of photos to visitors. A few models have a remote control where you can watch slide shows of the pictures.

Prices start from around 5,000 rupees for the smallest size (6 inches approximately). These are just approximations. For accurate prices please check your local stores.

Many brands deal with Digital Photo Frames. Popular ones include Philips, Kodak – to name a few.

Image Courtesy : Airtel India

Airtel has introduced an EMI option for all customers to purchase the iPhone. Now, you can buy the iPhone without having to pay the entire amount at one go. You can avail the EMI offer from any of the leading banks and pay the amount over a period of 12 months.

Here are the details:

Offer is available for VISA card holders of the following banks:

• ICICI
• HDFC
• SBI

Please click on image above to enlarge.

#Disclaimer:
- For instant EMI conversion ask the store manager where EMI option is available
- For SBI Card to convert your purchase into an EMI, call the credit card company after the transaction
- The EMI offer is at the sole discretion of the bank
- Charges are subject to revision from time to time
- SBI Card holders Call 39020202 or 1800 180 1290 (If calling from BSNL/MTNL line) within 10 days of 
  making your purchase
- Service Tax as applicable
 
* Conditions Apply. This facility is not applicable on ICICI Bank EMI card, Corporate card, Business card. Visit www.icicibank.com for detailed terms and conditions.

If any of you already have the iPhone, please leave your comments behind on the device.

This is a short but interesting post.

Image courtesy : designspongeonline.com

It is also based on a real life experience. My grandfather listens to a dozen of slokas and devotional songs everyday. He has a routine which he follows. The tracks that he listens to are:

1. Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatam
2. Shri Hanuman Chalisaa (the whole album)
3. Lalitha Sahasranamam
4. Aaditya Hrudayam
5. Vishnu Sahasranamam (evenings)

The same songs are played everyday in the same order. So far he was using cassettes and a Philips tape recorder/player. The problem with this setup is that the tapes get worn out soon due to repeated usage and also get weak. So once in two weeks or so, one tape of another would snap. I would have to open them up and stick the ends with cello tape and put the tape back together. Occasionally the tape would get wound up inside the player due to some error.

And then we have speed playback issues, constant rewinding/fast forwarding and ofcourse, changing tapes problem.

So I decided to simplify the issue for him. I had an old unused MP3 player lying around. It had a defective ear phone socket. With some local supplies I managed to change the socket and replaced it with an external one. Then I copied the MP3 tracks for these songs onto the MP3 player. We had a spare set of speakers lying around. I connected these to the player and viola! – We had a digital system with all these songs stored in the order in which it would be required to play back.

All my grandfather has to do is press the play/pause button and change the single AAA battery once in week or so. I could have simplified it further by hooking up a power supply to the MP3 player, but perhaps I save it for another day.

I will try and post some pictures of the same soon. In case you want more details, leave your comments behind.

Sony has released four models of Home Theatre systems. Some of the features available across these models are:

• Record and Play via USB
• Bravia Sync – Use the same remote to control the TV and the home theatre
• Free HDMI Cable
• Free Home Installation to avoid shabby wiring

The model details are as follows. (All images courtesy sony.co.in. Click on images to enlarge)

DAV-DZ270

• 850W Total Power Output
• S-Master Digital Amplifier
• FM/AM Tuner with 30 Presets
• BRAVIA Sync
• Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (D.C.A.C)
• Dolby Pro Logic II
• Bass Boost Function
• USB Connectivity
• HDMI Output 

MRP Rs. 14,990 /-*

DAV-DZ570

• 850W Total Power Output
• S-Master Digital Amplifier
• FM/AM Tuner with 30 Presets
• BRAVIA Sync
• Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (D.C.A.C)
• Dolby Pro Logic II
• Bass Boost Function
• USB Connectivity
• HDMI Output
• S-AIR Ready
• DIGITAL MEDIA PORT

MRP Rs. 19,990 /-*  

DAV-DZ777

• 1000W Total Power Output
• S-Master Digital Amplifier
• FM/AM Tuner with 30 Presets
• BRAVIA Sync
• Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (D.C.A.C)
• Dolby Pro Logic II
• Bass Boost Function
• USB Connectivity
• HDMI Output
• S-AIR Ready
• DIGITAL MEDIA PORT
• Movie / Music Mode
• Night Mode / Dialogue Enhancer

MRP Rs. 24,990 /-*

DAV-DZ870W

• 1000W Total Power Output
• S-Master Digital Amplifier
• FM/AM Tuner with 30 Presets
• BRAVIA Sync
• Digital Cinema Auto Calibration (D.C.A.C)
• Dolby Pro Logic II
• Bass Boost Function
• USB Connectivity
• HDMI Output
• S-AIR Wireless
• DIGITAL MEDIA PORT
• Movie / Music Mode
• Night Mode / Dialogue Enhancer
• Digital Cinema Sound

MRP Rs. 39,990 /-*

For in-depth details please visit : http://www.sony.co.in/productcategory/hts-dvd-home-theatre-system

For all you phone enthusiasts out there, the iPhone 3G from Apple is hitting Indian Market on 22nd Aug 2008. It is brought to India exclusively by Airtel and Vodaphone. 

iPhone promises to intrigue consumers with a multitude amount of features some of which are not to be found on other mobile phones out there. All of these are backed by Apple’s cutting edge design and innovation. But is it really worth the hype? Read on….

Well for starters the iPhone is a touchscreen multimedia phone which gives the same or even better music experience like the famous iPod which revolutionized the music player industry. Also thrown in are features such as a touch screen, Wifi, 3G, a camera ,GPS and ofcourse your mobile phone.

So how does it really add up? To begin with lets analyze the cost.

In India sources claim that the 8GB model is going to cost Rs. 31,000 ! This amounts to $700 (approximately)

The same model in the US (with a 2 year contract) comes to only $199 !!

The 16GB model costs Rs. 36,000 ! This is approximately $820 while the same model in the US costs only $300 (with a 2 year contract).

For these prices the phone better not be network locked! (for those who are not aware of this term, it means that you cannot buy the phone from Airtel and put in your BSNL SIM CARD into it!)

We do not know yet if Airtel/Vodafone would have some kind of a contract to bring the prices down but then again it would be more expensive as you would have to pay some special fee for a special plan. But knowing the Indian market we do not think that the operators would really launch a contract model.

The phone is touted to even exlude a wall mount charger in its pack! Yes you read it right. All these have to purchased separately. (To be confirmed)

Yet another feature which we think is highly talked about but would not be powerful enough is GPS (Global positioning satellite). This has the ability to guide you to your destination. But we do not know if Apple has the application bundled with the iPhone. Other phone manufacturers charge a specific fee for the same.  

Coming to 3G itself – There is no clear route to 3G yet in India. The spectrum is yet to be fully licensed and opertional. Even if it does become operational, we estimate that the prices would be pretty high for data transfer. Well that is what 3G would be really better at compared to current standards such as GPRS and EDGE.

So ask yourself – is it really worth buying a gadget for 30,000+ rupees when most of its features would never be properly exercised in India.

For 30,000 rupees you could get a decent mobile phone for about 10,000 rupees and spend the remaining buying some gadget for your home such as a washing machine or a refrigerator !

Let us know what really drives you to buy an Apple iPhone.

Read this too :

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/03/iphone-review/

http://www.appleiphonereview.com/

I have been wanting to write this review for a long time now. So here goes. Dell is a reputed brand worldwide. My search for a notebook was going on for a while. About a year back I happened to see the Dell XPS and kind of fell in love with it. It took me more time to go ahead and purchase one.

Let us see the pictures first:

Image Courtesy : datori.lota.lv and trustedreviews.com respectively. Click on image to enlarge.

Specifications of my unit

• Intel Core2Duo processor. T8100 – 2.1GHz
• 3 GB RAM
• 250GB Hard disk (I will come to this later)
• Slot loading optical drive – DVD 8X burner – dual layer
• Built in 2.0 MP webcam
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• 1 HDMI port
• 1 IEEE 1394 port
• 1 Ethernet port
• 1 VGA out port
• 1 Express card 54 slot
• Finger Print scanner
• Touch sensitive media control buttons
• Built in Wi-Fi – 802.11a/b/g
• Shipped with external USB dial-up modem, Bluetooth stereo headset, Creative noise cancellation earphones and a multimedia remote control
• Carry sleeve (not bag)
• Windows Vista Home Premium

At the time of purchase the system cost me approximately Rs. 54,000/- all inclusive.

Now lets get to the review. Please note that I am expressing my views about the notebook here. It is upto you to take it or not.

It has been nearly 2 months since I am using this product and my satisfaction levels are 50-50. The unit surely attracts a lot of attention. Dell has done some good job in designing this notebook. But do not think it is a very slim machine. The rear end can be as thick as a conventional notebook. The tapering design makes people believe that it is a slim.

The unit weighs under 2 kilos. My guess is that it weighs 1.85 kilograms. The price is more or less dictated by Dell. While inspirons and vostros have a good variety of processors to choose from, XPS starts with a killer processor and therefore adds to the price. Infact I didn’t choose anything extra at all. I had the option of going in for a more powerful processor, or go for a LED backlit screen, of go for more RAM, or upgrade the hard-disk to a performance one. All this costs more money, money which I didn’t want to spend.

My original choice was a Vostro 1200 because that would have been a true portable. But somehow I chose the XPS. The day after I bought the machine over the phone, Dell released  the Vostro 1330! Something which really turned me on towards the Vostro was that it was a more rugged piece of equipment.

I will first attack the cons of this machine and then move over the the pros.

• Poor customer support from Dell. Yes you heard me right. I made 5-6 calls to attract their attention. I wanted to tell them about some of my concerns, but they just wouldn’t get back to me. They seemed to be interested in dismissing my problems as known limitations! For instance I got this lady from Bangalore convince me (or so she believed) that the noise from the optical drive was normal and so was the shake of  the screen. Duh! 
• Very noisy optical drive (loading and ejecting). This is one of the biggest let downs for me. Having thought that the slot loading drive is a premium feature and to realize that people stop by and ask if my laptop was ok, is a something which I do not want to discuss further
• Heat – The unit does tend to get warm after prolonged usage and I find this extremely irritating. Being in Chennai it only adds to the misery.
• Finger Print sensor recessed too much – I have medium sized fingers and even I find it tough to register a good print while authenticating myself. People with broad fingers would have a tough time swiping and re-swiping their fingers.
• Wi-Fi switch is kind of loose. This again is seen on more than one machine. I don’t like the feeling but I guess it is not a deal breaker.
• No bag supplied with the notebook. We pay 50,000 rupees and more for this and we don’t even get a carry bag with it! I agree that the notebook came with a sleeve. But that is not a practical solution.
• Earphone jacks on the front – This is again an issue for me. If you are working with your notebook on your lap then the earphone wires tend to get in your way of typing and even sitting comfortably.
• Display is a bit loose – Small movements can displace our LCD screen by a few inches. This is not a big issue but at times can be very irritating.
• Hard Disk Partitioning – Dell has the option for you to choose an extra partition at the time of installation/delivery (factory installation). But this costs approximately 500 rupees more. I thought that partitioning is something which I could do by myself. I guess I was wrong. You see, every hard disk can have only 4 primary partitions. Each of these can have multiple drives allocated to them. But in case of my machine, the machine came installed with 4 partitions! The first one was for EISA recovery routines, the second one for the operating system, the third for recovery partition (ghost image) and the last one is used for media direct – Dell’s quick booting embedded OS for watching movies, seeing pictures and listening to music. This neat software can also open select office files.
• The hard disk activity LED is on the front panel and not on the top. Every-time you want to see if your HDD is busy, you need to bend down and check it near the earphone jack ! I wonder why Dell chose this sort of an arrangement.

Now let us focus on the Pros. A lot of review sites would have already covered these. So I will keep the list brief.

• Very good design. Sleek and functional form factor.
• Good keyboard. No key is too small. It might take a little while to get adjusted too though.
• Decent battery life. I have a six cell battery life. On the machine (dell) default settings I can squeeze a good 3 hours out of my machine. Please note that I do not have a graphics card installed on my system. For those who want that extra life – you can go in for a 9 cell battery which costs around 8000 rupees and also makes your system more heavy and the unit gets an additional stand off height.
• Good display. The unit has a very good display which is bright and crisp. I chose the conventional CCFL based backlight as this allowed my camera to be a 2.0 megapixel type. If you want to shave a few millimeters off your screen, you could opt for the LED backlit display, but that would not only cost you approximately 4000 rupees more but also reduce your camera’s resolution to 0.3 megapixels (VGA Cam). But the LED backlight display will make your machine more battery efficient and reduce the weight and heat dissipation of the unit.
• Color options available. I chose black coz it is the best. Other color options are Red and Blue.

My verdict is as follows.

Not a budget notebook, but considering the accessories, configuration and certainly the oomph factor, Dell XPS is a decent machine which gives a great balance for looks and performance.

If you are too conscious about budget and do not mind a low end processor or the extra weight, then Vostro/Inspiron from dell are good options.

Make sure you see a unit before you buy one and keep all the points which I have mentioned above in mind before ordering one.

If you have questions , do ink them on comments section and I will answer them.