Talk to your IPOD now. Apple’s new “tech-cessory”

What can i say about this new generation i-pod which apple has come out with? It is as big as your door lock key!, and guess what?, you can talk to it. As mentioned in the apple site “A French love song. A Spanish bolero. An Italian cantata.”, it understands about 14 languages and shuffle’s the song based on titles, artists and playlist names.

This third generation iPod shuffle is significantly smaller than a AA battery, holds up to 1,000 songs and is easier to use with all of the controls located on the earphone cord. With the press of a button, users can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist.

The iPod shuffle comes in silver or black and features a new aluminum design with a built-in stainless steel clip that makes it ultra-wearable.

The iPod shuffle can tell also tell users status information, such as battery life and can speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

iPod shuffle comes with the Apple Earphones with Remote and the iPod shuffle USB cable.

Some pictures from the web:

Namasthe, PS3

Gamers, get yourself geared up. PS3 has arrived in India. This time, Sony is trying to give a surprise (!!!). The package would have a 80GB console and also bundled copy of Resistance 2 with Dual Shock 3 controller. The entire package of 80GB PS3, Resistance 2 and Dual Shock 3 controller is priced at Rs. 25,990.

This new bundle will help you save some quick bucks, as Resistance 2 copy sells for Rs. 3499 and Dual Shock 3 controller is priced at Rs. 2,990. Sony does not bundle any of this with their 40GB PS 3 version.

December Notebooks! Which one to buy?

I ordered for a Dell XPS M1530 today morning, expecting it at home by this weekend. Will review it along with pictures later this weekend, but before that i would like to share my experience on R&D to convince my confused mind about which one to buy!

Well, firstly, my basic need for a notebook was to have a heavy HDD so that i can have multiple OS and data, superb RAM (4GB, say 2DDRs) and a high performance processor with atleast 3MB cache. Using this i would maintain a server may be, for my R&D on Java Enterprise apps, play HD games, movies, HD audio, most importantly a lot of multi-tasking. And i would prefer it to be easy-to-carry.

As i am a born techie, i do have a good idea about which one does what, so narrowed down my list to Dell, Vaio and HP. Considering high performance, HP sucks (Well, thats my opinion) though it is a numero uno seller and perfect just for multimedia. Moreover comparing HP with Dell and Vaio is like comparing Maruti with Honda and Audi. So i’ve deleted it from the List. My hunt started with several models in sony vaio and dell. After visiting stores, internet reviews, speaking to friends who’ve got ‘em, i’ve narrowed down my list to these:
1.Sony Vaio CR353
2.Sony Vaio CS17
3.Sony Vaio CS14
4.Dell XPS M1530
5.Dell XPS M1330
6.Dell Studio 15

Frankly, Vaio has got amazing looks. Its build quality is excellent. But considering my life-time philosophy “never bother about looks, just worry about the insider performance” i had to go to XPS M1530 ultimately; i’ll tell you why.

Considering a budget of 60K, i could get the above mentioned models of Sony Vaio. But i had to go for lot of compromises, i would never get a 4Gb ram in vaio, no 320Gb for my budget, moreover i could never get an NVIDIA GT (i could get a GS ofcourse but a 128MB). But still sony’s got the best reviews about its cache management and clock speed utility. The best advantage of sony is its audio cards, the default HD audio card is equipped with dolby room/home/theater and believe me, no other notebook has such a good audio. The system performance during heavy multitasking is very soft and quiet.
PROS:
1.Excellent Build Quality
2.Good Cache managemenr and clock speed utility
3.Good HD audio
CONS:
1.Compromise on memory & graphics
2.Sensitive to carry
3.Low end configs for 60K

Here comes my all-time favorite, DELL. Trendy looks, amazing performance, cheaper deals, good quality, worth for price. Internet reviews and people reviews give an outright 10/10 on its performance. Moreover, it comes in my budget and has the highest config in the world currently for a personal notebook. I could do all that i wanted in the first paragraph.
PROS:
1.Excellent configs
2.Proved performance
3.Affordable price
CONS:
1.Not so stylish looks like vaio

I was in a paradigm of comparing between a high-end Honda and low-end Audi. I thought its better always to be a high-performer, so decided to go for DELL.

Now Studio vs XPS, which one to go! I called one of ma buddies who works for Texas Instruments, he is a chip designer out there and asked him about the difference between the processor configs and graphic memories of studio vs XPS asking him about their dependencies in different environments. Then read few reviews about Core 2 Duo T5800 vs T8100 and understood that there are several issues which a normal user would never notice on the UI. Ultimately XPS is the winner. I felt 1330 was very smaller and had lastly reached at 1530.

Guys, this is just my personal opinion which i’ve arrived after a little research. Nothing offensive!!!

The iPhone Killer: Nokia 5800 Specs

Guys, the phone is not out yet in Hyderabad, so would update with the review in a while, check-out the detailed specifications for now!

Size

* Form: Classic with full touch user interface
* Dimensions: 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm
* Weight: 109 g
* Volume: 83 cc
* Touch user interface optimised for one-hand use with tactile feedback

Display and 3D

* Main display
- Size: 3.2″
- Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels (nHD)
- Up to 16 million colours
- aspect ratio 16:9
- automatic orientation sensor (Accelerometer) for display rotation
* 3D image engine

Keys and input method

* Stylus, plectrum and finger touch support for text input and user interface control (alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition, full screen handwriting for Chinese language)
* Dedicated Media Bar touch key for access to music, gallery, share on-line, Video Centre and web browser
* Voice commands
* Physical keys for application launch key (menu key), send & end, power, camera, lock, volume up & down

Colors and covers

* Available in-box colours:
- Red
- Blue
- Black
Available colours may vary per region.

Connectors

* Micro-USB connector, USB 2.0 High Speed
* 3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
* MicroSD card slot, small DC jack, Micro USB cable interface to PC (CA-101), TV out interface (CA-75U)

Power

* BL-5J 1320 mAh Li-Ion battery
* Talk time (maximum):
- GSM 8.8 h
- WCDMA 5 h
* Standby time (maximum):
- GSM 406.2 h
- WCDMA 400 h
* Browsing time with packet data (maximum): 3.4 h
* Video playback time (maximum): 5.2 h, Video playback time (maximum, nHD/Mpeg4) 3.4 h, VGA video playback using TV-Out with Stereo BT Headset 3.8 h
* Video recording time (maximum): 3.6 h
* Video call time (maximum): 3 h
* Music playback time (maximum): Up to 35 h
* Gaming time (maximum): 5.6 h

Memory

* MicroSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 16 GB
* 81 MB internal memory
* 8GB microSD memory card in-box, expandable up to 16GB

Operating frequency

* WCDMA 900/2100
* GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
* WCDMA 850/1900 (Latin America and Brazil variant only)
* Automatic switching between GSM bands
* Flight mode

Data network

* CSD
* HSCSD
* GPRS/EDGE class B, multislot class 32, maximum speed 296/177 kbps (DL/UL)
* WCDMA 2100/900 with simultanous voice and packet data, maximum speed PS 384/384 kbps (UL/DL), CS maximum speed 64 kbps
* HSDPA cat 6, maximum speed 3.6 Mbps (DL)
* WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g (3G version only)
* TCP/IP support

Local connectivity and synchronization

* Bluetooth version 2.0
- Bluetooth profiles: A2DP & AVRCP
* MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol) support
* TV out with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, in-box)
* Support for PC synchronisation with Nokia OVI Suite

Call features

* Integrated hands-free speakerphone
* Number screening for messaging and calls
* Automatic answer with headset or car kit
* Any key answer
* Call waiting, call hold, call divert
* Call timer
* Logging of dialled, received and missed calls
* Automatic redial
* Speed dialling
* Voice dialling: speaker independent dialling and voice commands (SIND)
* Fixed dialling number support
* Vibrating alert (internal), also with tactile feedback
* Side volume keys
* Mute/unmute
* Contacts bar for 4 contacts with images and communication history (SMS, IM, email, web feeds)
* Talking ring tones
* Conference calling with up to 6 participants
* Video calling: up to 3h, QCIF 176 x 144 pixels, low up to 5 fps, normal up to 10 fps, smooth up to 15 fps

Messaging

* SMS
* Multiple SMS deletion
* MMS version 1.3, message size up to 600 kb
* Automatic resizing of images for MMS
* Nokia Xpress audio messaging
* Common inbox for SMS and MMS messages
* Number screening for messaging
* Distribution lists for messaging
* Instant messaging client
* Cell broadcast

E-mail

* Supported protocols: IMAP, POP, SMTP
* Support for e-mail attachments
* OMA e-mail notification support
* Mail for Exchange 2008 in DL client, in 2009 embedded

Web browsing

* Supported markup languages: HTML, XHTML, WML
* Supported protocols: HTTP, WAP, JavaScript
* TCP/IP support
* OSS browser
* Nokia Mobile Search

GPS and navigation

* Integrated GPS for pedestrian and car navigation
* Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch application

Photography

* 3.2 megapixel camera (2048 x 1536 pixels)
* Image formats: JPEG
* Carl Zeiss optics
* 3x digital zoom
* Autofocus
* Dual LED flash
* Flash modes: On, off, automatic, red-eye reduction
* White balance modes: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent
* Centre weighted auto exposure; exposure compensation: +2 ~ -2EV at 0.5 step
* Normal, Sepia, Black&White, Vivid, Negative
* Dedicated camera key
* Landscape (horizontal) orientation
* Photo editor on device
* Direct printing to compatible picture printers

Video

* Main camera
Video recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels and up to 30 fps (TV high quality), up to 640 x 352 pixels and up to 30 fps (widescreen quality), up to 320 x 240 pixels and up to 30 fps/15 fps (email high/normal quality), up to 176 x 144 and up to 15 fps (sharing quality)
- Up to 4x digital video zoom
* Front camera for video calling
* Video recording file formats: .mp4, .3gp
* Audio recording formats: WAV (normal), AMR (MMS), AAC/MP4 (high quality)
* Video white balance modes: automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent
* Scene modes: automatic, night
* Colour tone modes: normal, sepia, black & white, vivid, negative
* Clip length (maximum): 1 h 30 min (high or normal quality). Dependable on available memory.
* RealPlayer
* Video playback file formats: MPEG4-SP playback 30fps VGA, MPEG4-AVC playback 30fps QVGA, WMV9 playback 30fps QVGA, MPEG4-SP playback 30 fps nHD
* Video streaming: 3GPP and CIF
* Landscape mode video playback
* Video editor on device
* Video Centre service supported: download and stream video content, WMV support, video feeds

Music and audio playback

* Nokia Nseries digital music player
- Playlists
- 8-band graphical equalizer
- selection by artist, composers, album and genre
album graphics display and audio visualisations
bass booster, stereo widening, loudness
* Music playback file formats: .mp3, SpMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA
* Dedicated volume keys & immediate access to Music Player from Media Bar, dedicated music keys in the headset control unit AD-54
* Stereo FM radio
* 3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
* Music Player
* Nokia Music Manager
* Nokia Music Store support
* Nokia Podcasting support
* Ring tones: 3D stereo ring tones, 64-tone polyphonic, mp3 & video ring tones (3 videos and 9 mp3 songs built-in)
* Integrated stereo speakers with surround sound (crystal clear hi-fi sound quality with dedicated audio chip)

Voice and audio recording

* Voice commands
* Speaker-independent name dialling (SIND)
* Voice recorder
* AMR, NB-AMR, FR, EFR
* Digital stereo microphone

Personalization: profiles, themes, ring tones

* Customizable profiles
* Ring tones: 3D stereo ring tones, 64-tone polyphonic, mp3 & video ring tones
* Themes

Software platform and user interface

* S60 5th edition
* Symbian OS version 9.4
* Active standby
* Media Bar
* Contacts bar

Personal information management (PIM): contacts, clock, calendar etc.

* Support for assigning images to contacts
* Support for contact groups
* Clock: analogue and digital, world clock
* Alarm clock
* Reminders
* Calculator
* Calendar with week and month view
* Converter
* Notes
* To-do list

Applications

* Java TM MIDP 2.0
* Flash Lite 3.0
* Games: 3D Bounce and Global Race, DVD: Ulead VTB
* Nokia Music Store
* Nokia Maps
* Map loader
* PC Download
* PC Photos
* OVI Suite with Nokia Music
* Download!
* Share on OVI
* Adding more applications:
- Over-the-air (OTA) downloads

Gaming

* Games: 3D Bounce and Global Race

* 5800 XpressMusic with pen stylus
* Battery (BL-5J)
* High Efficiency Charger (AC-8)
* Music Headset (HS-45, AD-54)
* Video-out Cable (CA-75U)
* Connectivity Cable (CA-101)
* 8 GB microSDHC card (MU-43)
* Carrying Case (CP-305)
* Stand (DT-29)
* Stylus plectrum in wrist strap (CP-306)
* Extra pen stylus
* User guide and Quick guide
* Mini DVD

More walkmans on da way!

This is an extension to my earlier article on Sony’s MP3 player.

Folks, if anyone’s planning to buy A726, please hold on. Sony has just announced a new series of walkmans ‘S’ and ‘Z’. Noise Isolation and Simple-Carry/Slim series. They are expected to arrive in the US market by october.

Those who’d prefer to have an out-n-out walkman regardless of video and stuff, this is the best buy. Models and Specs are on the Sony USA website.

Sony’s IPOD Nano Alternative! Guess what, this is awesome!

Sony Video MP3 Player A726 (4GB) is out in the Indian Market since last friday. This is a big relief for the ‘Enhanced Bass’ Music listeners from IPOD Nano. I tried it at Sony World, Clock Tower Secunderabad for almost like 30 minutes, still wanted to use it for a while, unfortunately had to leave because of the upset-faced sales guy.

Look-and-Feel:
The player looks very durable and the screen is scratch proof (for basic usage). The player weighs closer to 50grams, thats extremely lighter and it is handy.

Features & Specifications:
The most amazing part of the player which makes it more better than the IPODs is the sound enhancement technology. It has got DSEE / Clear Stereo / Clear Bass audio enhancement technologies that get you a better bass at even deeper bass beats. It has also got Normalizer and Equalizer with 5 presets. It supports a lot of codecs, interestingly even H.264 codec for videos, sounds cool, right? Hmm, well you can play even Linear PCM Audio. The usabaility is too good, the Menu and Search are more user-friendly.

The ear phones supplied are very good. They keep upto Sony’s brand, crystal clear audio with good bass support.

Well, i guess Senheiser or Bose can make it even better.

Performance:
Battery back-up is sexy, as mentioned in the specs and also written by a lot of users, 36Hrs of Non-Stop Music and about 10 Hours Non-Stop Video. Videos can be watched in both normal and landscape view. The screen is truly good ~ 2.4 (6.1 cm) QVGA High Brightness Color LCD with TFT.

Finally the best player to buy, if you are more interested in High-Quality audio rather than touch-screen and other stuff.

Ofcouse, there are some missing things like FM Radio, Wi-Fi and Voice Recording, but as long as you are concerned about listening to quality audio, they never impact.

A726 which is of 4GB is priced at 8990/- in India, where-in you can get A828 (8GB) and A829 (16GB) versions in the US for approx 249$ and 299$ respectively. Also they’ve got bluetooth for transferring music and listening using bluetooth enable headphones. Instead of buying the 4GB version here, I’d suggest to get the 16GB version from US which you can get for 13000/- approx.

Book your iphone now!

When the iPhone 3G was announced, unlike Airtel, Vodafone made no formal announcement that it would be bringing the much awaited mobile phone to India.
Apple, though, confirmed this by mentioning that India would get the iPhone 3G through Airtel and Vodafone.

Now Vodafone has announced that people can pre-register for the iPhone with them, indicating that the iPhone will be available soon. The company is tight-lipped on the question ‘How soon?’. All they are willing to divulge is that the iPhone will be compatible only with the 2G networks and some of the iPhone 3G’s features may not work here.

Airtel too is inviting people to book their iPhone with them.

Alternatively, some online underground sites are also selling unlocked iPhone in India but these unofficial iPhone suppliers in India do not share their contact address so be careful in case you run into shipping problems. If you buy an unlocked iPhone, it will work with GSM networks here but but you cannot use the Visual Voicemail feature of iPhone. Also, iPhone is GSM based so it may not work with Tata Indicom or Reliance CDMA network.
Expected price range for Rs 10,000 – 12,000.

Another iriver look-a-like from philips

Philips GoGear SA2825

My cousin has got this one last night, and the whole night was my experimentation on it!

Once again portability and size take centerstage for DAPs. Philips has always had small DAPs and PMPs in its GoGear range, and the SA2825 is no different. But as we all know size isn’t everything; it’s how you use it that matters. Yes, it’s the quality and functionality the device brings to the proverbial table that is significant, so let’s get to it.

Form Factor
The SA2825 is a squarish, neat-looking, “plump” player. If you’re wondering why I’ve used so many adjectives, take a look at the image. The player has a navigation system that’s similar to the Iriver’s S10. It has a clear 128 x 64 pixel resolution OLED display that can display four lines. The front panel has a silver mirrored finish, rather like the sort you see in those cool glares favored by American biker cops. The four sides have the keys for navigating the menus and music.

On the top is a Return key (that takes you back to the previous menu) and the power/selector/play key. The 3mm earphone socket is located on the same side. There’s a dedicated Record key on one side, where you’ll also find the mini-USB port. On the opposite side are the volume keys, with the Hold switch at the bottom. The front face may be a fingerprint magnet, but it’s not a bad-looking device at all.

Features and Performance

Philips has made sure that the SA2825 has plenty to offer music buffs. Aside from having an FM tuner that takes no more than 17 seconds to locate and save all available stations, it also has an FM recording option. That’s in addition to the inbuilt voice recorder. I was quite impressed during my daily commute. Although you’ll still get plenty of static in most areas, the pickup is pretty remarkable.

When it comes down to music quality, the SA2825 falls short of a high score, especially when you compare it with some of the other GoGear DAPs. It’s loud, I’ll give it that, but the highs are… well, simply put, too high. The dynamic range is not balanced correctly. With the help of the 5-band graphic EQ setting (aside from the presets available) I was able to cut down the piercingly bright mids and highs by actually going into the negative range.

I do not recommend listening to high-decibel music. The earphones were a little uncomfortable for me; they didn’t seem to stay put inside my ears. The sound quality was okay, but I found that a better pair of earphones offered a much-improved experience.

The SA2825 offers a volume limit setting so you can preset the volume to a particular level that it won’t exceed. I like the fact that it has a folder option for playing music directly form the folder you save your clips in. The DAP reads MP3, WAV, and WMA file formats, and songs can be simply copy-pasted into the device. With 2GB of space, you don’t need to be particularly choosy either!

Philips claims the SA2825 can provide up to 20 hours of music playback, but this may be a bit of an exaggeration. After making sure the battery was full and ready to go, I left it on and periodically checked on it. It trailed off after 13 hours and 25 minutes. But that’s not too bad.

The Bottomline
The 2GB Philips SA2825 is priced at Rs 2,999. That’s not too bad but not great either – especially if you have a problem with the earphones. The FM radio reception is decent, so that’s a plus, but the overall sound quality isn’t too impressive. It’s a great looking player – if you’re into appearances. In fact, women could wear this as a necklace and use it as a compact mirror whenever they wanted to fix their hair or reapply makeup. But that doesn’t thrill me much.

You can have a look at the images of this gadget in the RSS Feed in thr right.

A Phone, Apart

Well, let me start off the gadget reviews with my very own mobile phone, Nokia N73 Music Edition. This is definitely a combo box. The main features include 3.15 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Optics Camera, Music Player (The phone is available with 2GB Memory card, by default) and 3G Ready.

I’ve been using this phone for about a year now. I bought this one for 16800 bucks in Hyderabad and it is about 12900/- now.

Boons:

The music player is splendid. The integrated audio chip is amazing and gives wonderful sound. The player supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA formats with equalizer and playlist options as well. However, the earphones provided in the kit are just ‘Okay’, but better ones can be used with the help of 3.5mm connector jock. I use the plug-in-earphones of sony-ericsson and they’re really fantastic. Especially when you tune into some Trance Music with ‘Bass Booster’ equalizer preset using these earphones, you almost feel like listening a creative 2.1 home theatre. Other good earphone-combination would be Bose. The additional features like ‘Stereo Widening’ add an asset. However, the true experience of these additional features can be felt only through the 3-D stereo speakers in-built in the handset but not on earphones.

Now that’s pretty much about music, the second best thing is the camera. The front one is a VGA camera, an advantage for Video-Calls (Should be amazing one 3G is launched in India) and the rear one is a 3.15 Mega Pixel with Carl Zeiss Optics. Thanks to the symbian techies, there are a lot of applications like ‘WebCam’ available, which turn the camera into a webcam and this can be connected to a Bluetooth PC. In broad daylight, the camera clarity is too good! Motion Picture Capture, Steady Pictures, Landscape and all the other things are great. But the camera is absolutely horrible in Night Mode. Even a Sony Ericsson W810i/K700i with 2MP camera and comparatively better. The Video clarity is also not so good (even in day light).

The device is really fantastic in internet services. It uses the maximum bandwidth of the service provider when tried to browse. When used as a modem for a PC, it gives you amazing connectivity, to the max of the bandwidth. Moreover, the Nokia PC Suite 6.85 is more user-friendly that even a Kid can make use of the phone as a modem and set up the connections in seconds.

The voice clarity during the call is really good. I would say better than the N-Series versions S60 V 2 (Symbian OS 8.1)

Sleep Mode. No other N-Series devices designed before this one had it. Saves a lot of your battery. Also the battery is BP-6M and gives a standard talk time of more than 6 hours and stand-by of 3 days.

The data management is so easy; it can be backed-up on a PC as a encrypted “.nbu” file and can be re-used.

Troubles:

You feel completely irritated with the application management of the device. All application installations can be done only by the default ‘Application Manager’. The Symbian O.S 9.1 (Series 60 V 3) which the N73 uses is an utter failure in this area. There is a lot of crap when you try to install unsigned applications (even if you include certificates manually in ‘Settings’), also it will trouble you sometimes if the application is signed. All the private applications (applications other than the default ones) cannot be un-installed using this manager, especially themes. The user has to meddle with the system files manually and get rid of them.

There is no Wi-Fi in this device.

Camera in night-mode