My Better Half

This is a story about a psychologist. This will for sure change the way you perceive.

Prologue:

                                3 Hrs from now, I will Know how good I am at practically handling the stuffs which I learned for 2 full years. Just one Personal Contact Programme (PCP) away from gaining my Masters in Psychology. The PCP had been arranged at a hospital half hour away from where I live. We; 8 students are to report at that hospital which houses 53 patients with Psychological disorders. There our hero, Professor Arivazhagan, true to the name has done remarkable counseling and solved psychology mysteries for a career spanning nearly 30 years; would assist us. All we had to do was to interact with these patients and do a case study. Yeah! We had to squeeze our brain and put all the theory into practice.

                                I was there at the Hospital with all the other students. Our professor arrived and he gave few guidelines. He cautioned us not to disturb any of the inmates and try to be as nice as possible. He also said he has assigned a patient for each of us and that he would be there with us and warned us against any unnecessary act of valor. He promised everyone will have their degree and this was the time each of us tested our own potential before going out there in the Psycho world. So for all those degree wanters; it’s just a cake walk, just spend some time and leave. But there were few others who are not those degree wanters. I was one among them I wanted to test my merit here. I was very curious and nervous. We dispersed and I went ahead and moved into the building and towards the veranda waiting to see that special person who may change the way I am. May be or May be not.

                                As I walked the veranda, I saw a man sitting on a couch in a posture you don’t normally see. His right foot was on the couch the other grounded, his right arm extended and rested on the back of the couch. He was having a mobile connected with an earphone holding with his left arm. Couch was placed just in front of a balcony and all I could see was a silhouette of him. That deserves a photograph; I was composing the whole scene on my mind as I was also a photography enthusiast. All of this convinced me to have a chat with that man. He could be a patient or a visitor or a guest. But the sole purpose of our visit was for a case study. Why not test my potential against a normal guy before I could meet the patient. Just like sharpening the axe. I thought this was a good idea and approached this man on the couch.

                                I told myself, ”Ok, now our goal is to start a conversation and extract as many information as possible. “As I walked, his face slowly started to gain focus as I could get the whole picture. He was a well built man with short well trimmed hair, long legs and broad shoulder. This is a perfect body description of a Lover boy. He wore a Tee and a faded blue slim fit jean. I noticed he wore a Brown Buckaroo leather sneaker which was shining. So he must have clean habits and organized. He had a thick hairy eyebrow, dimple and his eyes were closed. He was enjoying his music. He had a huge Walkman branded Sony Smartphone attached with the Beats audio earphone. So he should be a music freak. As I approached him I could smell the perfume of Rose. This guy must be a Casanova, I thought. So I concluded this guy should be a visitor. May be or May be not. I thought a conversation will conclude if I was right. I was next to him, but this guy never seemed to have spotted me. I cleared my throat but to no effect. Then I dropped a pen that I had in my hand. Yeah that got him. I bent to take my pen and he adjusted himself by grounding his right foot but didn't help me. As I took my pen I could see this man still extending his right arm on the couch. If a man is ready to share his place he would have given me space by moving away but he didn't. In simple words through his body language he said “Dude this is my territory, you don’t have a place here. Go away.” Now that’s a challenge for me.

                                Now this act is normal but may be or May be not. So to confirm I asked him what was the time? I was just waiting to see what he would reply and what actually he felt through his body language. And time management is another crucial factor in psycho analysis. Advancement in time is directly proportional to psychological disorders. As he removed his earphone, his eyebrow just shrunk towards his nose, He immediately gave me the time. He said “10:10”. Then his lip corner tightened and raised on one side of his face, a clear sign of contempt. Contempt is the mixture of angry and disgust; he clearly doesn't want me to be there disturbing him.  The time he said was the exact time on the wall clock above his head and in my watch.  What do I Do next? 

                              I stood there, took a piece of paper and I started writing, just some random words in the form. When he saw that he removed his right arm, crossed his legs and turned to the opposite side without uttering a word. Well now he let me sit there but didn't want me to disturb him. Then I was wondering how I would start a conversation. The phone rang, he removed the earphone. He just uttered three words “Yes… hummm… evening… ok” and then hung the phone. Now this is the gap which I thought I should use before he goes back to his listening mode. After hanging the call he was adjusting his playlist I could somehow manage to see his phone. I could see half the word there “man” followed by Track01,Track 02 and so on. That could be an artist name or just a folder name but in a jiffy I asked him “Do you know what is common in AR Rahman and Michael Jackson?” His eyebrows went up when he looked at me but still his body was facing the opposite side but there was one good news for me. For a third of a second there was a short smile on his face and then it disappeared. He asked “Why does that bother you?” as his face frowned. Well this surprise and anger may be because I am a stranger, out of nowhere asking him a question like this. But there is also a possibility that he may be surprised because he likes those artists and that he is glad to know I asked about them. And that short smile on his face before he answered confirmed me that either he wants a chat or he likes those artists and the question that I asked. So to re confirm I responded like this:

                                “There are so many musicians but there is something in these two artists that holds the fans together. I couldn't understand how they do it. I thought a music buff like you may know it.”

                                He turned his face and said “They do it for a cause”. I immediately asked “What cause?” Now he turned his whole body towards me, removed both his earphones and said “They write songs for a cause, poverty, child abuse, save the world and so on. They are not just dumping music. They have a purpose. They are divine”. Whoa! That’s a big achievement for me. I made a stranger who completely ignored me to actually speak this much. But my aim was to extract more information. So I immediately said. “Oh! So what artist’s song are you listening right now”. His face lit up, he had a smile. A genuine smile. Those wrinkles at the edge of the eyes distinguish from the fake ones that we do just to please someone. But what he replied baffled me. He smiled and said “You are smart”. I was surprised. He continued “So your PCP programme seems to be going good.” Now I was little worried as my face shrunk. He said “Weren't you told not to show your act of valor?” Now I was terrified. I was about to swallow a lump when he pointed his finger to my throat and said “Now try not to swallow that.” I couldn't, I swallowed. That happens when you feel guilty and terrified. This guy is some serious body language expert. Now I have ended up in trouble. May be or May be not.

                                He said “I am listening to Endrendrum punnagai from Alaipayuthey by AR Rahman.” I said “I am sorry”. He smiled again. His whole body was facing me. His eye was observing my eye movements. I struggled to find words. I knew he will know what I feel and he did. Just to ease me out of the embarrassment feeling I had he said “I am Zakheer,a  Clinical Psychologist  by profession.” Then I said “Sir, I am Alam, doing MSc Psychology. I have come here for the  PCP. I thought…” before I could finish he said “You are good but always have a watch on who watches you!”

                                Then I asked about his career and then we had chitchat. Well this meet wasn't a pleasing one but still I was successful. I started a conversation and I extracted information. Before we could wind up I asked him what his favorite song was. He smiled and said “the one I just said I was listening to”. I chuckled and then put this one “Can you explain, psychologically why you liked it”. He smiled and said there is a story behind that. I was very keen to know that. I asked him to share with me the story. Without any hesitation he was glad to share his small interesting story. He said “Behold! You are hearing a story from a psychologist.” I said “You said I am good but sure I will watch” and I smiled. He laughed and he started his story.

The story in the words of Zakheer.

                                                                                                                                                to be continued...

Quad Cores\Dual Cores\Single Cores in Phones. Which one to buy?

  When you buy a Desktop/Laptop its easy to choose as you first look at what is the processor? Then the OS and so on... Naturally majority will go with Intel and others AMD but you know for sure which is better. And almost all are aware of the recent processors from Intel and AMD.

  But when it comes to mobile devices all you see is the processor speed. Many claim to have higher frequency but yet they fail to deliver it when it comes to loading an application or your beloved high graphics game. For example, certain Smart Phone Manufacturers claims to have 1.2 GHz freq with Quad Core processor and they

challenge(in Marketing) the likes of HTC, Samsung, Nokia to have come with a solution half the price. Is this possible? Read on to know more...

  An important aspect of the processors in mobile device is it does more than just processing.

Processing is a broad word. In fact they have one or all of these following things

1. 2G/3G/4G Radio.
2. Support for higher screen resolutions
3. Graphics
4. Single/dual SIM Support
5. Multimedia capabilities like capturing images/videos at high resolutions and higher frames per second

So how do you choose your phone by looking at the processors?

For that, you will have to understand the ARM Cortex series architectures and which of those architectures are powerful enough to deliver your requirement.

Check out the different arm cortex series and their processing power here: Cortex A Series

So now the processor that is running on most of the affordable Smart phones with Quad Core/Dual Core processors are of MediaTek or STEricson.

Check out the solutions from MediaTek (which powers most of low end phones with Quad & dual cores) here: MediaTek Processors

Did you notice the architectures used? That explains why it doesn't deliver on your favourite high graphics game and that it is affordable.

Check out the processors from Qualcomm used in high end Smart phones here: Qualcomm Processors

Here is a list showing the architectures used on these QUALCOMM processors: ARM architectures used in Qualcomm Processors

Did you notice the architectures used? That explains it all. QUALCOMM Snapdragons are one amongst the fastest and powerful processors around. Others include Samsung’s Exynos series processors and NVIDIA Tegra series. Intel is also jumping into mobile devices with their Atom Bay Trail processors.

I hope this explains you how to choose smart phones based on their processing ability.

And now on you will not be fooled by the Quad Cores of certain device manufacturers claiming to give Quad cores on very low prices compared to the established players.

And one final input on buying the smart phones; the most powerful processors come at a cost: Low battery backup. Some of the SOC processors use a combination of architectures to come up with a better solution for a good battery back up as well as processing power.

Choose your smart phone Wisely. Happy shopping.

Note: This article is not meant to be interpreted as supporting in favor of any manufacturer or tarnishing others. It purely explains the hidden aspects. In addition the user is also advised to check bench marking scores such as An tutu to get a clear idea.

Its All About Me

This is a story about me. Through the difficult times to the current stature where I am. I do not want to bore you all with how I was shaped from my childhood; instead I’ll take you right into my professional life where things were totally different than I expected. I will call my boss as my master throughout; there is a reason behind that. 

                        It all started during the month of November. My master keeps telling me that I am one of the best of the bunch and that he had known about me from a lot of sources. I was glad. But there were many other hardships waiting for me. First off, the quality that my master referred me to was challenged. I was totally made numb. My master backed me all time through but there was a time where I failed to deliver. Who in this universe is a perfect thing? Nothing! Unfortunately chains of failure lead to a state of disbelief for my master. I never cared for anybody’s comment but for my master. He was the one who backed me all time through. But he too was slowly dragged to others perspective of my abilities.  

                         And at an extreme stage my master lost confidence in me. I couldn’t exhibit my talents to him and he never cared to extract the stuff I had. Success comes not only by one’s hard work but also by the well wishers who show you the path, teach you the right lessons, show you your unknown & underestimated talents, take you through your rough part and patch you up. And none of this was happening with me. My master was reluctant until that dream project came by. 


                         It was a pleasant morning, I was asked to come to a museum near by. People come there to relax; Kids, Lovers, Friends , couples and you can see all kinds of people. I was wondering why I was asked to come to this place. But I thought to myself; why not open up with my master? Why not tell him that I am capable and that I was sorry for my failures? He arrived. I was about to open up when he said ”We have a very interesting project coming up. This will change the way we currently work…” and he went into the details of the project. As he was summing up the project there was some kind of energy flowing through my veins. I was eager to get into the project. The project was looking like it was aimed at me. I continued to listen to the technical details. He ended like this “Past is past. Time to prove. Let the game begin.” And he left. I was happy not only because I am into a new project that exactly matches my abilities but for my master. He showed me today that he still has confidence in me. That changed the way I worked. I said to myself “Yes! Let the game begin”. 


                           It was the first review of the project, people were really shocked with the result but it didn’t end there. Lots of criticism also came by. Whenever I heard those criticisms I used to watch how my master reacted. He graciously accepted all the criticisms with a smile. I was really frightened with these criticism as I didn’t want to loose my masters faith in me. And my heartbeat increased as the review came to an end as I had the fear of facing my master. All he said to me after the meeting was “Come on lets move on! We can do it.” And then a week later another review came by. This wasn’t anything new as criticism went on a high. My master never lost faith in me we continued. And then came this review at the end of the month. The criticism went to an all time high where people pointed hands at my boss for wasting so much time and money on a resource like me. My master’s face swung to gloominess. I have never seen him like that before. The meeting ended. My master didn’t utter a word. He left.

                             My master asked me to meet him in the same place we met before. We met. There was moment of silence between each other. He asked me if I can work in xyz technology which I never knew. This was so important because this can really help us start winning. I blindly said yes. He asked me “Tell me your areas of interest…” and he continued. He started to dig into my technically strong areas. We spent nearly an hour talking technology and this was my right time and I utilized it. I gave him lots of ideas and how we can do things different. I was so happy because my master was taking time to know what I am capable of. 


                            Couple of months passed by and I was sure that I had performed well than what I used to do. The rapport between me and my master was getting better and better. Two reviews had to be postponed due to technical reasons and meanwhile we had a chance to exhibit our project ideas in a conference. The idea again was from my master. We went ahead, presented the paper and the response was warm. The people at the conference chose top 3 papers and confer them with awards. We were happy with the response and we never bothered about the top 3 papers. 

                           Time for review, and this time the review was very positive. Our technical strategy had worked well. Reviewers were happy with the results but yet again, you know they are reviewers so they gave us with some suggestions. I had a big sigh of relief, happiness was written all over my face. Things are getting better. As we came out of the review meeting, the news came. Our project has been conferred as one of the top 3 best projects. I fainted. 

                             From that point on there was no looking back as the reviewers started having faith on us and things started to become so smooth. 

Want to know what’s my profession? Want to know which project won me an award? And what’s that dream project?

                             Here it is: 

                                            My profession is photography. “The bliss of heaven” which is part of project Love check won me an award in streets photography challenge. 

                                           The dream project is CC Wallpapers and that lead to more successful projects. Few worth mentioning are Love Check, Braces, Adorned Places, HDR Photography… and then a dedicated Facebook page to exhibit my talents :) 

Remolon is my master.I am a digital camera. I am Samsung WB650 :) 

Never Give Up!  

You can have a look at some of my best pics on flickr here.
And a daily photo sharing FaceBook Page here.

Installing maps onto Samsung WB650(HZ35W) Camera

Samsung WB650 or HZ35W is one of the best compact zoom cameras. You can find the review of the camera Samsung WB650 or Samsung HZ35w(thats how its named in the US) here. The stand out feature for this camera is the ability to geo-tag photos with GPS. It also has a dedicated mode where you can view the photos taken with GPS in a map. But Samsung however did not provide a clear procedure on how to install the maps.




So here I intend to give the step by step procedure on how to install the maps onto Samsung WB650(HZ35W).Remember these steps are absolutely not required to take photo with GPS enabled. Its required only if you intend to use the map view mode to see the photos in maps in your camera.



Samsung has restricted the download of the maps to only 3 times. If your download exceeds thrice then you may not be able to download the maps any further. So here we go:

Step One: Go to www.samsungimaging.com and register your product(top right corner). Then from the home page select maps download at the bottom right corner of the home page. Clicking it should prompt you to provide your name, country and the serial number of your camera found near the battery department.

Step Two: Click submit and then read the license agreement. Click agree to proceed. That should take you to the download page.

Step Three: Download the three zip files that are required. They are
a)City Name(zip file).(Common for all countries)
b)Base map(zip file).(Common for all countries)
c)Your country map for example IND_08Q3.zip in my case India that is.
Remember these files are huge files so make sure you are on a good Internet connection.

Step Four: Create two folders namely city and mapview(upper/lower case doesn’t matter) in the SD Card.

Step Five: Unzip the city.zip file that you downloaded, that should give a file called world.adm. Copy that file into the folder named city.

Step Six: Unzip the mapview.zip file and that should show you two folders and a file namely Map,res and a file called system.ini. Copy these two folders Map,res and the file system.ini into the folder mapview.

Step Seven: Now we have unzipped two files that are downloaded. Unzip the last file with your country specific name and in my case it is IND_08Q3.zip that corresponds to India. That should give you two files with extensions .cfg and .bgf. Copy these files into the Mapview/map folder (in the map folder available within the Mapview folder).

Step Eight: Now all done, this is the final and optional step.The .cfg file basically is a configuration file that stores a default location. It is this default location that is used when the GPS lock is unavailable. All you have to do is write down the GPS co-ordinates of your default location to this file. To know your locations GPS co-ordinates go here and type your location. That should give you two co-ordinates namely Latitude and Longitude. Now open the .cfg file, go to the column named “CEN_LON=” and append it with the Longitude value. Go to the column named “CEN_LAT=” and append it with the Latitude value. Thats it. The picture below should give you a fair idea.



You can copy maps files of any country. All you have to do is just put in that country's respective .cfg and .bgf files in the Mapview/map folder (in the map folder available within the Mapview folder).

If you would like to have a look at some awesome photos from this camera check it out here. One of the photo also won the Streets Scenery challenge 2011 in www.samsungimaging.com which can be seen here. And one photo awarded as the best photo is available in the Must watch gallery of the site www.samsungimaging.com that can be seen here. You are free to use the photos anyway but link back to this blog. And of course you cannot commercialize those photos :). More details on the free usage can be seen here.

The comments section is open for discussions :).

Flashing Sony Ericsson Xperia phones

Do you own any of the Xperia line up of Android Phones?Are you a kind of person who wants to fiddle around with your Android phone like a geek? Are you the kind of person who wants to learn android porting and customizing your Android builds?



If yes there are many sites that do that but for the first time the leading manufacturer Sony Ericsson that is; have come up with step by step procedure to flash their phones.That sounds very interesting isn't it?



But be warned, though the entire procedure comes from the manufacturer, the device's warranty will be void on flashing.But its an interesting move from Sony Ericsson to get involved with its customers. The procedure is very crips and clear and it may work on other devices too. Want to have a go? Check out the Sony Ericsson's blog here:


They also point out at the famous XDA Developers Blog which they claim to be monitored by Sony Ericsson for all the questions on unlocking boot-loaders to flashing on their devices.It can be found here

Free Wallpapers Under Creative Commons

Hello Readers,

I am glad to share you all with some of my photos which are with Creative Commons Licence.You can check the complete collection of my Creative Commons wallpaper here. You are free to modify change and redistribute the photos except that you cannot commercialize the wallpaper and that you have to link back to this blog.You can get a copy of the license here.

If you do use the wallpaper then link back to

http://techentrepot.blogspot.com/p/photography.html

(also available on each image's top right corner) and leave in a comment so that I can know you used it:).

If at any point you want a full resolution image drop in a request mail with the link to the image you need and send it to: techenrepot@gmail.com.I will send you the full resolution image ASAP.

Few images also have GPS co-ordinates and Location information. If you want to know where the image was taken just copy the co-ordinates, paste into the the site maps.google.com and hit enter.

For example in this image:

The location information (co-ordinates) is 11.426406,76.660764(separated by commas) into maps.google.com as shown in the pic below(green arrow):

Have Fun :)

Feel free to browse and leave a comment:

Check Out Remolon Ribiers Creative Commons Wallpapers

Samsung WB650 (HZ35w) Camera Review

It’s been a long time since I had written a review and a post in my blog since I was held up with some work. So here I come again, this time around I will discuss about a camera that I bought on November 2010. As usual I shall start up with what my requirement was and how I short-listed my Photo Machine.

This isn’t a complete review because I felt am too noob to do an in-depth review (as not is incase of mobile) instead I’ll point to the sites that do a better review and share how I short listed my machine together with its Pros and Cons that I could find in these 3 months of time.



Introduction:

It was my long time dream to buy a machine to do some serious photography with a limited budget. I wanted a machine that will give full control plus offered good features on a descent budget. So I decided on some key requirements such as:

• *Good image quality and Mega-pixel count wasn’t an issue for me.

• *Full manual control so that i can learn photography.

• *Around 10x zoom.

• *With Li-Ion battery.

• *Wide-angle lens.

• *Budget around 14-15K this is a bit high but on little research I found that getting all these features on one package would be around 14-20K.

So when I Googled for these features the first direct hit went to www.dpreview.com. It’s a superb site with professional offering in and out detailed review of the device. In that site I found a group test of Travel Zoom Cameras that were satisfying all my requirements.

The Review and My selection:

Here is the review of all these devices:
Compact Super Zoom Camera Group Test.
The above link will give you all accessories details and full features each of the cameras.
Now I would like to tell you all something. If you carefully read those reviews its very clear that every camera has got its own pros and cons. The conclusion would point out on a Winner but however it does not mean that other cameras are not up to the mark. So I clearly went through each of the cameras review and compared as to what each of these cameras had against each other. So now there were the following cameras that satisfied my requirements.
Panasonic TZ8(ZS5 in US), Casio FH100, Sony H55, Nikon S8000, Samsung WB650(HZ35W in US) and canon Sx210IS.

But among these only Panasonic TZ8, Sony H55 and Samsung WB650/WB600 were within my reach, satisfying my requirements and was available.

And Sony H55 didn’t have full manual control so I had to skip Sony too and Casio didn’t have any market in India.

So now am left with Panasonic Tz8 and Samsung WB650/600 both of them cost the same. Now according to the review Samsung is the Gold award winner but that is not the only reasons that I selected it but for these:

• *15x Zoom: While Panasonic offered only 10x, this had 15x zoom which is good to have.
  

• *VGA Resolution AMOLED:Since I had already missed an AMOLED (check this to know about that), this time around I wanted to own one. While others offered LCD, Samsung offered High resolution(VGA) AMOLED which offers very bright, vivid and contrasting images. And also it saves a lot of your battery power and offers better viewing angles in direct sunlight than the TFT LCD, which is crucial for me.
  

• *GPS:This is another good to have feature that’s not available in the Panasonic Tz8.

I always wanted to own a Leica lens (Panasonic Cameras have them) but looking at the features WB650 had, again with Tz8 for the same prize and the Gold Award supporting the cause; I zeroed on to WB650.

I hope this small write up would help you shortlist the right device for the right price.

Initially I did have confusion between WB650 and WB600 but settled down with WB650 for its AMOLED :).

FYI WB650 was selling for RS.16500 and WB600 for Rs.13000. The main Difference is that WB600 doesn’t have an AMOLED Screen and the GPS.

My Experience:

This is what dpreview.com states about the cons of this device:

• *Slow lens @ the long end of the zoom i.e. when you zoom crosses 10x it becomes a bit slower.

• *Hesitant focus in low light

• *Poor GPS implementation.

In fact all of them are true. For the GPS part there is a work around which you can check out in the blog post here. And here are some of them, which I experienced.

• *Certain color like light pink/red and orange are over exposed/saturated.

• *While zooming in the video mode the zoom noise is present and is irritating. As a work around, Samsung has given an option to mute sound while zooming alone.

• *Flash Power isn’t all that good and its range is comparatively less with all other models.

• *Poor image quality in low light.
  

• *Smart Auto is not smart enough. Other dedicated modes work better.

Now on the Positive side here are some of its advantages:

• *Overall Very good image quality.

• *Offers full manual control (A.S.M) and Program mode.

• *Good number of preset modes like: Portrait, beauty, landscape, Close up, Text, Sunset, Dawn, Backlight, fireworks etc.

• *Good Video quality (720p).

• *Very good zoom performance.

• *Good battery life

• *Good GPS performance (On a clear sky it just takes 3-5 seconds to get a satellite lock)

• *Have a number of in-house editing options such as brightness, contrast, saturation, filters and more...

• *The camera has 128MB memory housing Intelli studio software, which is very good at offering tasks such as image editing, image synchronization and a smart album. All you have to do is just plug in your camera in the USB and Intelli studio starts automatically on your PC from your camera (you also have the option to install it on the PC). Just give in the path where the images have to be stored and Intelli studio transfers the images and synchronizes the images from camera to PC. This greatly reduces the pain of copying and pasting the images.
  

• *USB charging. This ensures that your camera charges every time you plug into your PC so that your camera never is short of power.*In house Map view, but the details up to street level are available only for select metropolitan cities for India. Has support form many countries.

And finally here are the images that I had taken using this camera for you perusal.
And here you can find all of my best photos taken using this camera with Creative Commons License.



Battery Life:

On a heavy usage such as Macro focusing which involves heavy movement of the lens in and out, changing modes,Some GPS locks and some in-house editing; it gave me 213 shots( Samsung states 220 shots without flash). If you ask me this is pretty good and it only increases if you maintain your battery well. Check this to know how to maintain Li-ion batteries.


Conclusion:

Samsung WB650 with a Schneider-kreuznach lens is a very good camera covering all-important features and I felt it’s a good value for money. On the negative side the camera is very poor on low light conditions and does not focus in low light conditions. So overall I felt it’s a good package.

Once again, Samsung wb650 had all the important features that I wanted hence I grabbed it baring the low light photography, which anyway I am not going to do it. So if you have my requirements then you can very well go ahead with WB650. If you feel its a bit costly then you can go for WB600, which sells for 13K barring AMOLED and GPS.

And if not for WB650/WB600 I would have definitely bought either of these following camera in the order:

Panasonic TZ8
Sony H55
Nikon CoolPix S8000
Canon Power shot SX210 IS
Fujifilm FinePix F80 EXR
Fujifilm FinePix JZ500

All of these cameras are worth having a look at.

So if you are looking to buy a camera, dont forget to check these two websites:
dpreview.com
Photographyblog.com

Have Fun!

The comments section is always open for discussions.
PS: All the cameras that i had mentioned above fall in the price range of 15k to 20k as of Novemeber 2010.

Leads#3: Budget Android Phones in India Rev.2

Its been quite a long time since the last post. In this post I will be discussing some of the budget android phones that is currently available in the Indian market as of September 2010.



This post can be considered a sequel to my earlier post on budget phones here. Before we can jump into our list of devices, it will be very much helpful to you if you can understand the nuances of touch screen phones here so that it will help you zero on the right device. Lets get down to business right away with a small picture graph for some insight into growth of Android.



source:



1) Samsung Galaxy 5 i5500




· Operating system: Android V2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 900/2100
· Processor: 600 МHz processor
· Internal: 170 MB(256 MB RAM,512MB ROM) + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g,DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR(A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 2.8” 240x320 pixels resolution (QVGA),256k colors
· Camera: 2 MPx with LED Flash
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, Accelerometer, FM Radio,SWYPE text input.
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1200 mAh

First on our list is the Samsung Galaxy 5, which is an affordable budget phone. If you are on a tight budget and are looking for a smart phone stop here, just go ahead and buy this small droid. It has a capacitive screen, which ensures good touch sensitivity. It has got all the features that the higher end phones have except for the small screen with a low QVGA resolution. Samsung Galaxy 5 i5500 sells for around Rs 9000/-


2) Spice Mi-300




· Operating system: Android V1.6/2.1
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 900/1900/2100
· Processor: Qulacomm MSM7225 528 MHz
· Internal: 156 MB+ microSD
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR(A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.2” 480x320 pixels resolution (HVGA),16M colors
· Camera: 5 MPx with LED Flash
· Other features: G-Sensor, Proximity Sensor
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1230 mAh

And for the first time we see an Indian Phone manufacturer coming up with an Android device. This phone has a very descent spec, especially a 3.2” screen with a HVGA resolution. It is also based on the Qualcomm platform, which ensures a good processing power. Initially when the phone was launched it came up with Android V1.6 but later the devices are coming up with Android V2.1. You can check out a small video on this device here:. The Spice Mi-300 sells for around Rs 10,000/-


3) Videocon V7500 Zeus



· Operating system: Android V1.6 upgradeable to V 2.1
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, UMTS 2100, HSDPA 7.2MBPS/HSUPA 2MBPS
· Internal: 512 MB + microSD
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP,GAP,HFP,HSP), microUSB (USB 2.0), 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.2” 480x320 pixels resolution (HVGA),262K colors.
· Camera: 5 MPx with Auto Focus
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, digital compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor.
· Battery: removable 1230 mAh(two batteries provided)

After Spice jumped up into the Android arena, another Indian phone manufacturer, Videocon have come with their device called Zeus. Like the Spice MI-300, Zeus is also a very descent mobile with good spec sheet. It comes with Android V1.6 but Videocon has promised an update to V2.1 in the end of October. Videocon has provided two batteries with the pack,one as a back up battery. The expected price for Videocon V7500 Zeus is around Rs 10,000/-.


4) LG Optimus GT-540




· Operating system: Android V1.6/V2.1 with Custom UI
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 900/2100, HSDPA 850/2100
· Processor: Qulacomm MSM7227 600 МHz processor
· Internal: 130 MB(256 MB RAM & ROM) + microSD
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - Resistive , 3.2” 320x480 pixels resolution (HVGA) 256k colors
· Camera: 3.2 MPx with autofocus
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, Accelerometer, FM Radio,Divx Certified Device
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1500 mAh

Optimus GT-540 is the second Droid from LG after the LG – Gw620. The earlier model did not make a cut in the Indian market despite having similar features and a slide out keyboard. This phone has a major set back with its Resistive screen which I think doesn’t do justice to androids, especially when phones which cost lower than this such as Samsung Galaxy 5 have a capacitive screens. But other than the resistive screen the Optimus has a very good spec sheet. It has got a HVGA resolution screen and a DivX certification which means there is no need for you to convert all those .avi(Divx/Xvid rips) and .divx files. Just copy them to your card and voila the phone plays it for you without any hitch. The phone in the US shipped with Android 1.6(remember you will not be able to send files via Bluetooth in this version) but LG announced that it would ship with Android V 2.1 in India. The LG Optimus GT-540 sells for around Rs 11,500/-


5) Samsung Galaxy 3 i5800/i5803




· Operating system: Android V2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 900/2100
· Processor: 667 MHz processor
· Internal: 256 MB RAM,512MB ROM + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g/n,DLNA, Bluetooth 3.0+EDR(A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.2” 240x400 pixels resolution (WQVGA),16M colors
· Camera: 3.2 MPx autofocus
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, Accelerometer, FM Radio,Proximity Sensor,Multi touch input,DNSe,DivX certified,Document Editor
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1500 mAh

With the success of Spica, Samsung have introduced its replacement, the Samsung Galaxy 3 i5800. But hold on! There’s one set back here too. Inspite of a HVGA screen,Samsung has gone ahead with an odd WQVGA resolution screen and a 667Mhz processor replacing the 800 MHz processing power of SPICA. However Samsung has thrown in a very good set of features which is better than SPICA like more internal memory of 512 MB ROM and a 256 MB RAM,Bluetooth 3.0(only phone in the lower budget to have this new standard),proximity sensor,multi touch,DLNA capable and FM radio. Like his elder brother, Galaxy 3 is also a DivX certified device. It has got a rich application in it along with DLNA which means you can share your multimedia files among all your DLNA certified devices. Except for the screen resolution, Galaxy 3 packs a good set of features which is worth having a look at it. The Samsung Galaxy 3 i5800/i5803 sells for around Rs 12,000/-.


6)HTC Wild Fire




· Operating system: Android V2.1 with HTC Sense UI.
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100
· Processor: Qualcomm MSM7225-1, 528 МHz processor
· Internal: 384 MB(512 MB ROM) + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0) for charging and sync, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.2” 240x320 pixels resolution (QVGA)
· Camera: 5 MPx with Auto Focus and Flash
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, proximity sensor, digital compass,multitouch input method, Turn-to-mute and lift-to-dim-out a call.
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1300 mAh

Like the way Samsung placed a replacement for their mid range phone, the Taiwanese manufacturer has given us a perfect replacement for the Tattoo in the form of HTC WildFire. HTC is known for its good build quality and have done that here too. It looks much like the HTC Nexus One/HTC desire. But again this phone comes with a paltry QVGA resolution display, which doesn’t do justice to android at all. Other than the display the wildfire has got good hardware and their Sense UI in itself is a crowd puller, which makes this device deserve a look. Turn to mute and dim out a call are some unique features available on this device.The HTC Wild Fire sells for around Rs 15,000.


7) Sony Ericcson Xperia X10 Mini/MiniPro




· Operating system: Android V1.6 with TimeScape UI.
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100, HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
· Processor: Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz
· Internal: 128 MB(256MB RAM & ROM) + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0) for charging, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 2.55” 240x320 pixels resolution (QVGA) with 16M colors(65k effective)
· Camera: 5 MPx with Auto Focus and LED Flash
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, Accelerometer, slideout keyboard(Mini Pro)
· Battery: removable Li-Po 950 mAh.

Sony Ericcson landed with a bang with their flag ship device Xperia X10 in the android world. Now that they grabbed the attention, they have released the mini version of the X10 as Sony Ericcson Xperia X10 Mini and the same device with a slide out keyboard called the Sony Ericcson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. Mini/Mini Pro has a small display of 2.55” capacitive screen and as expected a QVGA resolution for the small screen. These two devices have completely different purposes compared to the list that we have seen. These devices run on Android V 1.6(Bluetooth file transfer??? Nope!!) which is outdated but Sony Ericcson have promised an update for these devices at the end of this year. One important thing to watch out is that with Sony Ericcson Mini, you cannot change the battery similar to the iphones where the battery is inbuilt and irreplaceable but that’s not the case with Sony Ericcson Mini Pro which also has a slide out keyboard. These phones comes with Sony Ericcsons very own TimeScape UI or the phone corner UI where a shortcut for four different applications can be placed at the four corners of the home screen. The Sony Ericcson Xperia X10 Mini sells for around Rs15,000 and the MiniPro for Rs 750 more than the Mini.


8) Motorola BackFlip MB300




· Operating system: Android V1.5 with Moto Blur UI.
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 21003, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 2100
· Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor
· Internal: 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0) for charging, 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.1” 320x480 pixels resolution (HVGA),256K colors(65K effective)
· Camera: 5 MPx with Auto Focus and LED Flash
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, proximity sensor, digital compass, accelerometer, reverse flip with QWERTY keyboard,BACKTRACK touch panel
· Battery: removable Li-Ion 1400 mAh

Motorola came back to the smart phone race with their Motorola milestone/Droid. And they have slowly introducing their products in India too after their poor performance in Indian market. This device has a very good spec sheet that is a very good deal for a descent smartphone esply the display resolution. But the irony is it’s a little pricey plus it comes with Android V1.5 with no upgrade in near future. Another note able feature is that Motorola has promised a software update(not to V2.1) which contains some performance tweaks and free MapMyIndia GPS solutions.This Android device with an unusual physical key board sells for around Rs. 17,000/-.



Leads:

We have seen 8 devices each with its own pros and cons.Selecting a particular device may depend on so many factors like one may wish to have a physical keyboard, or for a good build quality, multimedia performance and more. So in my leads I will be looking at the overall picture.

Android’s main aim is to provide a flexible upgradeable system. So it will be wise to decide on a good hardware with descent spec sheet, which can fit the upcoming different versions of Android and good application support. So you buy a good phone and then you get to enjoy different features whenever a free update comes from google Android(based on availability).

With more manufacturers coming up with Android, the features like wifi,GPS,3G etc. can be found in every android device. But here are certain things that can be deemed a good spec sheet for future updates.

1)Good Screen size and Resolution 2)Processor 3)Inbuilt memory

That being said, on a touchscreen phone, the screen resolution matters the most because all the application(most of them) trust on this parameter. So if we can get a phone with the right resolution it can support many applications. So which is the right resolution? Unfortunaterly we can not tie upto a particular resolution but on the availability of applications and the picture clarity, HVGA resolution is a descent one. It has got good number of applications supporting it and viewing pictures and videos are very good. And as far as screen size goes, as an Android user, I think any thing more than 3.0 inch should do the trick.

Secondly the processor and the internal memory matters. Android V2.1 runs smooth on 500MHz and plus, and as per the rumors the next version to the now latest FROYO Android V2.2 has a minimum requirement of 1GHz and 512MB of RAM. Getting a 1 GHz processor on a budget should be a dream but its not a distant reach. But for now Android 2.1 is a stable system and Android v2.2 is a more tweaked system utilizing the H/W efficiently. So as much processing present more good be for your update. Same goes for the internal memory. Android V2.1 runs very smooth on 128MB RAM and 256 MB should be smoother ride on Android V2.2. But 512 MB would be a perfect choice.
And finally, the manufacturers should be willing to give their device the updates and the device should have a good community support if incase you have plans to root the device.

In my opinion Android V2.1 is the stable and feature rich version however if a device is capable of at least Android V2.2 FROYO it would be too good as it has a feature to install your applications on to your Sdcards rather than onto your inbuilt memory.


So from the processing ability and screen resolution, Spice Mi-300, Videocon Zeus and Motorola backflip makes the cut. Motorola so far have not announced an update to Android V2.1 and not sure if they will do.So, we are left with two devices which are stuck still with android V1.6. Though they have announced an update to V2.1 , am not sure how good the device works and we don’t know if there will be any further updates to 2.2. If you are confident about the performance of these devices, then look no further, they have got good spec and if they can deliver, they are the devices for you.

Well if we can do a bit of sacrifice on screen resolution we have many options. Considering the features and upgrades Samsung Galaxy 3 i5800 and HTC wild fire makes the cut from the group because both have promised an upgrade to Android V 2.2 FROYO whereas Sony Ericcson have yet to give an update to Android V2.1. Now further if we investigate, the Samsung Galaxy 3 i5800 has a little better resolution(an odd WQVGA though) than the QVGA of HTC Wild Fire plus a host of other features for a lot lesser price. Galaxy 3 comes with Bluetooth 3.0,DivX certification, DNSe sound engine and DLNA for content sharing, all of which comes for around Rs 12,000 only compared to HTC wildfire for around Rs 15,000.

So the Leads here is to Samsung galaxy 3 i5800 for its host of features for a good price package. LG Optimus definitely is a good device had it been with a capacitive screen rather than a resistive screen. Resistive screens simply don’t do justice for android for which it doesn’t make it into my list. There are so many unofficial ROMS available such as Cyanogens mod, Leshaks etc that give you the power of root. Both HTC and Samsung have good community support but the former does have an upper hand.
If at all Sony Ericsson had released their X8, then it would have been the optimal solution. But the device is yet to make an entry. If you plan to wait for some more time, then you may check out this device called Sony Ericcson X8 which will be a pefect buy provided it runs on Android V2.1. Here is its Spec sheet:


Sony Ericcson Xperia X8



· Operating system: Android V1.6 with TimeScape UI.
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 900 / 2100, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
· Processor: Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz
· Internal: 128 MB + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0), 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 3.0” 320x480 pixels resolution (HVGA),16M colors(65K effective)
· Camera: 3 MPx with Fixed Focus
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, digital compass, accelerometer, scratch-resistant surface
· Battery: removable Li-Po 1200 mAh
The price of X8 if placed around Rs 13,000 to 14,000 should be a good buy.


Another device to watch out for is Huwaei IDEOS, which comes preinstalled with Android V2.2 FROYO. Its expected price is around Rs 6,000. Here is its spec sheet:

Huwaei IDEOS U8150



· Operating system: Android V2.2
· Networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE/GPRS, HSDPA 2100,
· Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz processor
· Internal: 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM + microSD (hot swappable)
· Interfaces: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP), microUSB (USB 2.0), 3.5 mm headphones jack
· Screen: TFT LCD - capacitive , 2.8 ” 320x240 pixels resolution (QVGA),262K colors
· Camera: 3.15 MPx
· Other features: GPS , A-GPS, FM Radio, accelerometer
· Battery: removable Li-Po 1200 mAh

Leads#2: DivX Certified Mobiles in INDIA

Well, there is no end to this ever growing technology. One thing that changed the perception of mobile phones was the mp3 technology. Every phone manufacturer made sure that their mobile had the mp3 support and it was a huge success that it almost dumped the mp3 players. Things are getting even hotter because now its time to have video playing capabilities on your phone and that’s how we have the .h264 technology.



Ahh! Its not over yet. Am sure everyone knows about those .avi movie files. They completely changed the way we watch the movies. They offer such good compression yet maintain superior quality. You get that same DVD quality but with a reduced size on disk(A 4GB DVD can be ripped to a .avi file of 700MB maintaining almost the same quality). The compression algorithm behind this .avi file is called the DivX/Xvid algorithms. Now what if these are available on a mobile device? Yes they already are. In this post I will post some of the DivX certified mobile phones which will almost dump your media player.

There are many software solutions available on the net. You can download the media players; install them on your mobile to play these files. But nothing can match the DivX certified mobiles. Reason? Because these devices are tried and tested and offer solution from the hardware (.h264) rather than software, so you get superior movie watching experience.



In the mobile phone industry (in INDIA) only Samsung and LG are offering Divx solutions. But things will change soon. All the phones discussed here are the ones that are available from 2010. There are many other phones like the LG KM Arena,Samsung Omnia etc who also offer the DivX certified devices which are quite old now. Additionally you may also want to know some of the touch screens like TFT LCD,OLED,AMOLED and Super AMOLED from our post on Touch Screen Phones here which will be helpful in judging the right DivX phone.


There are four classification in the certification listed as under:

DivX HD: Resolution 1280x720, supports .avi(encoded with DivX/Xvid algorithms), .divx files and .mkv(Matroska Video) HD files.

DivX Mobile: Resolution 320x240 supports .avi(encoded with DivX/Xvid algorithms) and .divx files


DivX Mobile Theatre : Max Resolution 640x480 supports .avi(encoded with DivX/Xvid algorithms) and .divx files

The coolest thing here is, you need not do any conversion. Just dump your movie files and these DivX certified devices just plays them smooth.Ok lets check these DivX babies right away:


Samsung Galaxy SPICA:



So in the ascending order, the phone that is in great demand in India is Samsung’s Galaxy SPICA i5700. This phone comes with a 3.2” capacitive TFT LCD(16M colors) screen with 800MHz processor doing the number crunching.It runs on Android Éclair which is from Google and the OHA which is getting popular now. It has got Samsungs own DNSe technology for superior audio quality. It’s a sheer pleasure watching movies on this phone. This phone is a DivX Certified Mobile device. I had watched a movie with a resolution of 704x288, it played them very smooth. You can check the review of SPICA in one of our posts here. Spica sells for around Rs. 12,500. Its very hard to find this phone in the market, if you find one just grab them, its worth for the money you pay.


Samsung Jet(2):




Samsung Jet s8003 has 3.1” AMOLED(16M colors) resistive touch screen, 800MHz processor and DNSe technology which makes sure you get a good audio experience. With the AMOLED screen the colours are more sharper, deeper and brighter than the good old TFT LCD and watching movies on such a display is awesome. If you don’t know what AMOLED’s are check our post on touch screen phones.The phone sells for around Rs. 13,000 and is a DivX Certified Mobile device.


LG GW620:



LG GW 620 is LG’s first Android phone running CupCake. It has 3” Resistive(256k color) TFT LCD screen, 528 MHz processor and a QWERTY slide out keyboard. The phone sells for around Rs 16,000 and is a DivX Certified Mobile device.

Samsung Wave :



Samsung has brewed up their own new OS called Bada OS. And Wave is the first device, infact their Flagship device to run their Bada OS. Wave has a 3.3” Super AMOLED Touch Screen(16M color), with a 1 GHz processor doing the math, FM Radio and DNSe.
If the Jet offered crisp movies with its AMOLED screen, Wave has Samsung’s new Super AMOLED screen which is more superior than the latter. Now this mobile is for sure going to make a bold statement on the multimedia front. This phone sells for around Rs. 18,000 and is DivX HD certified Mobile, which infact is the first phone to have HD certification. This means it will play all your 720p videos and .mkv files like a champ.

Samsung Galaxy i899:




Galaxy i899 is the first CDMA phone with Android Platform in India. This phone has a 3.2” AMOLED(16M colors) Resistive Touch Screen, with a 800MHz processor and DNSe. So, this phone too has the AMOLED screen which will make sure that you have a good movie watching experience. This phone sells for around Rs 19,000 which is tied with Reliance and is a DivX Certified Mobile device.

Samsung Galaxy S i9000:





The last phone on our list is from Samsungs Galaxy family called the Galaxy S i9000. This phone is Samsung’s flagship Android device. It has a huge 4” Super AMOLED(16 M color) touch screen with 1 GHz Processor doing the number crunching,FM Radio, DNSe and DLNA technologies. 4” screen+ Super AMOLED+DNSe+ DLNA= Theatrical experience.This phone is a DivX HD certified Mobile.The phone sells for around Rs 27,000.

Leads:

We have seen 6 different phones to super phones and it looked like a one sided game with Samsung filling 5 phones here. This trend of DivX certified devices has just started and other player will soon join LG and Samsung to catch up the mobile entertainment race.

Now picking your right DivX certified device depends on so many factors ranging from price,OS and to many other features like camera etc. But as far as our leads is concerned, it is to pick the device which is quite good player on all the segments (price, feature etc.).

So the Leads here is to 3.3” Super AMOLED screen+ DNSe+DivX HD(play HD .avi,.divx and .mkv) + flagship device+cost + feature = Samsung Wave S8500. Watching those movies on those Super AMOLED screens is surely going to give you goose bumps. With a price range of Rs 18,000, the Leads here is to Samsung Wave S8500.

If price is not a concern then Samsung Galaxy S is the mobile to look for as it has the now stable Android running and moreover is the flagship device of Samsung as well. This would simply mean that all the Android updates for Samsung will start from this device.

If none of the device impressed you, then you might check for good old LG KM Arena or the Samsung i8910 HD which are also DivX certified devices. To check out the complete list of Divx certified phones(or any DivX certified electronic device) check here.

Coming Soon:

Watch out for Samsung i5800 also called the successor of Samsung Galaxy SPICA and LG GT540 Optimus , the two phones which will be announced in the last quarter of this year. These devices are DivX Certified Mobile device.