Stay connected on your mobile !

Today's hectic lifestyle has rendered social interactivity between people almost non existant. At such, the biggest problem is procuring the time to get in touch with friends across IM messengers

But now there is a simple solution to this problem. Just use Nimbuzz

There are various software's available in the market that let you login to various IM clients from one common software, but the one that offers a lot more features is Nimbuzz. It is available for PC and for your mobile.

You can download it from http://www.nimbuzz.com

Ofcourse  you need to sign up on the site to get an account. The account iself comes very handy due to certain features listed below. One of the best parts about Nimbuzz is that its absolutely free and does not charge for usage. Ofcourse when using on the cellphone or on the PC you would have to pay for the data charges to your operator.

Nimbuzz allows one to connect with Skype, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AIM, studiVZ, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace, Jabber and many more at the same time. You can chat with friends, share files and even make VoiP calls !. It even has an offline buzz mode that notifies your friend that you want to get in touch with them.

One of the best features is the online contacts backup. Nimbuzz allows one to backup their phone contacts into their online account. So if you loose your phone or switch to a new one, you can easily retreive your database.

The interface is clean and simple and its quite easy to use too.

So if u want to stay connected on the move, get Nimbizz mobile else go for the pC version.

Mumbai Burning

As the attack on Mumbai get over, where do we Stand ??



One friend was confined to his apartment in Lokhandwala during these 60hrs of Mumbai Siege, One friend had left The Taj just 40mins before the terror strike, One friend had picked up an auto from Barakhamba Road just minutes before the bomb went off on Sept 13 in New Delhi..........

Watching the gruesome images of Mumbai blast, I felt vexed, agitated, restless, disgusted and probably any other adjective which would help me describe my feelings.
I felt pity..not on the hopeless politicians but on ourselves, as citizens of India, that how can we be so irresponsible in electing somebody who don’t even bother to care for the security and safety of their citizens. Are we so incorrigible that we cannot learn from our mistakes or is it we Indians suffer from amnesia and haven’t yet learned the lessons the hard way…after the 1993 bomb blasts, 2007 train blasts, Sept New Delhi blast etc. The list is endless. How many more incidents like these do we need to assure ourselves that the worst is yet to come. I think we have left no stone unturned to make sure that the world mocks at us.
The traumatic 60 hrs of blood and miseries made me think of the alternatives that can help us get away from such situations. Should we think like the Israelis - terrorists only need to be killed; should we get Biometric IDs for all citizens or worse put cameras at all intersections, roads, stations, airports - and integrate it with every city's security plans.

We're all still feeling the shock of the awful attacks in Mumbai. The attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: Our Unity. If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists have won. They know that hatred and chaos feed on division. As radical extremists, their only hope of winning is by turning the rest of us against each other. Let's deny them that victory.
Let’s show them that we're more united than ever, united in our love and support to each other, determined to work together against terror and call on our leaders to do the same.

Now where is Raj Thackray and his "brave sena"?
Would Shivraj Patil’s resignation give contentment to the relatives of the deceased?
To Top it all, where is our President at this dire time of need ? There wasn't even a single comment anywhere from her, is she even alive ???

I do not want to blame the Government, BSF nor the intelligence team…as it is not going to make any difference… Its US…WE should stand up and react…The question which each Indian should ask themselves is..How can just a handful of people (albeit armed) can bring the commercial capital of the country on its knees. The mental and physical damage caused is irreparable.

I dread to think if these guys were not 20 or more, but say 500. What damage could they have caused to India???!!!! We definitely need to give a much better today and tomorrow to our children.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Hands on !

The 5800XpressMusic is finally launched in India

Its at a great price, but one cant get it before January.

Today was the blessed day when the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic has been offically launched in India, and after the long hour session of how mobiles have changed over the years,whats Nokia' future prospects for India etc and how the "comes with music" service is gonna shape up the industry, the price of this beautiful phone was announced.... and yes its gonna be priced at just Rs. 19,990 !!!!!

Yay... God bless Nokia people for the great pricing and may they rot in hell for making it available in the markets only in the end of Dec or in Jan... ( rumoured Jan 20th sadly)

Thats not it, the phone comes with an 8GB microSDHC card, a wrist strap, a stand, video out cable, a carry case and an extra stylus.

Coming to the phone build quality. The phone has a glossy display and due to that its prone to fingerprints as hell and they are quite visible too. The body of the phone feels sturdy and the sim card slot + card slot have got a nice latch lock onto it. The back of the phone has a smooth finish and overall the phone feels quite decent to hold. Although, to some people the thickness of the phone may be a turn off as it does not fall under the slim category. Its almost as thick as the SE W580.

The touchscreen of the phone is simply amazing. Not going into all the technicality of what it is made up of and how its better than the iPhone's etc etc. The display is a 3.2" with 640 x 360 resolution. This makes the display very crisp, the icons looked great so did the pictures. Video playback was also decent.

The responsiveness of the touchscreen is what amazed me, i seriously did not think that the phone would have such a great response. With the fingers, it worked great, with the stylus it worked better !! Typing messages was easy with the full QWERTY keyboard using hands, and the mini QWERTY worked fine with the stylus. 

Another great thing was the sound output, it was loud, exceptionally loud actually. At full volume it felt as if i was holding a mini speaker in my hand. I am sure that with the headphones the output would also be great.

 The camera is a normal 3.2 AF camera and i just clicked a few shots with it. It seemed quite decent enough.

The UI is fast, and in the time that i had the set for, it did not hang or gave any lag to me. Even while scrolling the menu, it was quick and worked very well with the touchscreen. Its just like the normal Series 60 UI,only that it uses touch now to work. The weird thing was that some places you need to single tap, whereas in some places you need to double tap to get the thing working.

The worst thing was that the stylus was a cheap plastic one which i didn't like at all. 

One cool thing was the guitar pick that comes with the phone, it was great fun to use it with the touchscreen.

Overall, from the initial use, i am completely in love with the phone. The lucrative price and the accessory bundle has further more enticed me into getting the phone once its out.

The only other phone that i would even consider over this is the SE Xperia that too if it comes down to 20 - 25k... 

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Offical India price

Today at the Nokia Evolving together Global Summit in New Delhi, Mr. Shivkumar from Nokia India revelaed that the 5800 XpressMusic would cost around 20k and would be launched at the end of Novmeber...

Many people like me have been waiting for the Nokia 5800 as it is an amazing device on papers and has got rave reviews on the net already.... 

At this price point Nokia surely has the advantage of price towards the 5800XpressMusic and no doubts that this gorgeous device would find lot of buyers.....

For those who dont knoew.....Key features of the Nokia 5800XpressMusic are

3.2 inches TFT touchscreen, 16M colors 360 x 640 pixels
Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Handwriting recognition
microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB, 8GB included
81 MB internal memory
128 MB SDRAM memory
ARM 11 369 MHz CPU
GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, WiFi, UPnP technology,Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP,microUSB
Symbian OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5
3.2 MP autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics
Built-in GPS receiver
Stereo FM radio with RDS
TV out
3.5 mm audio output jack
Battery, Li-Ion 1320 mAh(BL-5J)

So, Nokia have one hell of a phone at one hell of a price out here.... i mean at 20k... hell even i am looking to own one if it performs decent enough.... :D

The iPhone Killers

We finally have phones that kick the iPhone out of the picture

Finally, after almost a year and half of the launch of the iPhone, I am ecstatic to see a couple of phones that do have the right to be termed iPhone killers. Catching upto the iPhone was hard, especially cause of the beautiful touch screen and the multitouch interface that took everyone by storm. Where the iPhone failed was in terms of performance and high end features. The price of the iPhone in India just made it a more niche device. It gave the iPhone a demand in the India market as it is in human nature to want something that they cannot have. Being into Technology i loved the iPhone and hated it for my own reasons. After playing with my fair share of phones till date, i personally believe that currently there are two phones that can be termed as iPhone killers as of now. 

1. Samsung Omnia - The Omnia i900 from Samsung is a great device. It looks like a modified, upgraded iPhone and has a great finish. The phone has a 624Mhz processor with 128MB RAM. It comes loaded with Windows mobile 6.1 and samsung has integrated there own touch interface onto it too. The Samsung interface has larger icons that add to the user friendliness a lot. It has a beautiful 3.2" display which is great for browsing the net or watching DivX videos onto it. The phone doesn’t have a 3.5m audio jack, but the bundled hands free takes care of that issue. The sound output is above average, not too loud. What’s impressive is the sound clarity of the sound. The phone runs fast, but if too many programs are open it tends to become somewhat sluggish. An issue is that it doesn’t have a stylus slot, the stylus has to be kept hanging on the side and this could lead to scratches on the phone. The auto rotation feature of the phone also has an issue. It rotates with an animation, this gets irritating in a while, thankfully you can switch it off. It comes with a5MP autofocus camera with flash which takes good quality snaps. Thanks to the image stabilizer that images are not blurry. The camera gives lot of setting options also. It records video in 640 x 480 pixels resolution too. It comes with 8/16GB onboard memory and Samsung has bundled a 16GB microSDHC card along with the phone. The phone is loaded with features - It has Bluetooth with A2DP, WiFi, 3G, GPS, TV-out and even FM Radio. It doesn’t use a standard microUSB port, rather Samsung’s proprietary port for charging and hands free .Selling in the market currently at a price of 33,000 for the 8GB Variant, the Omnia is an amazing device, much better than the iPhone in terms of looks and functionality. For those looking at a plain touch screen device that gives more power in their hands, the Omnia is simply a great phone. 

2 . Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 - The Sony Ericsson Xperia is the true iPhone killer in all respects. Other than its weight and larger dimension, the Xperia has no other drawback compared to the iPhone. In my opinion it even surpasses the Omnia in terms of performance. Even thought the Xperia comes only with a 528 MHz processor, the 256MB RAM makes it run faster than the Omnia. It runs the same Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, though it features a unique new thing called X panels. These are more or less skins for the main screen with different themes, but they are interesting. The phone’s main plus point is its Arc Slider keyboard. The keyboard is great, though it takes a while to get used to. The phone comes with a stunning 3” display which has better resolution that the iPhone’s screen. Like the Omnia the Xperia is also loaded with features to the brim, it has 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS, FM Radio and even comes with a 3.5mm audio jack.  The phone comes with a 3.2MP camera which takes great images, though some people might feel that now with phones coming with 8MP camera, 3.2MP is passé. The sound output is great and the use of metal on the body makes the phone feel great in hand. Expected at a price point of Rs 36,000, the Xperia comes with 400MB onboard memory and is expected to come with a 8GB card bundled in the package


Nokia has also announced their first touch screen phone the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. It features a 3.2” touch screen display, a 369Mhz processor with 128MB RAM, 81MB internal memory and 8GB card included,3G, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPS, FM ,TVout and even a 3.5mm audio jack. Sad to a certain extent that even it comes with a 3.2MP camera, but it would have symbian series 60 OS and a microUSB slot. The price point is expected to be between 25 – 30k. The initial reviews and videos make the 5800 seem like an impressive phone, so perhaps Nokia also has an iPhone killer in their hands.

Selling Online - a dilemma

First of all, i am so sorry for not being able to post from the past month, i was caught up in a few things so didn't really had the time...
Now however, i would be posting regularly.... :)

Karan

Online Sales

One of the things that I have come across a lot while trying to sell thing online is that no matter how low you price a thing, people would offer you a lower price. You put up a thing for sale at a so and so price which you think is the best price for your second hand product due to its condition and working order. Of course this price is just slightly higher than what you would be getting if you sell your product in the local market. But as soon as you put it up for sale, you notice two things for sure.
a) Loads of people would say, what a great price the product is being sold at here
b) There would always be a group of people who would say something like “ Oh I just brought something like this last week, else I would have bought it from u”

Now, here comes the interesting part, even thought the price has been mentioned to be a great one for the product, the offers that you start receiving would be of a lower value. They would be easily 1000 to 2000 below the price you mentioned, with a small statement next to it “this is what I can offer, if interested please tell me”.

Perhaps it’s the mentality of the Indian consumer that one has to bargain no matter how good the price is, or is it just that they believe that the other person is trying to cash in over his second hand product and it’s not actually worth the price he is selling it for.
Now, why would the seller who is getting a higher price in the marker that being offered, sell it online?

I always prefer to sell things online myself, as the person on the other end can check the product before buying, satisfy himself then pick the product if he fancies. But all this lowballing of prices has made me wonder if it is even worth selling online, especially in India.
When an internet savvy person like me is having second thoughts about selling things online due to this scenario, where does a simple person stand????

Going Glossy >>

Too much Shine

Love glossy shiny gadgets?? read on >>

Working with a Lifestyle and tech magazine gives me access to a lot of shiny new gizmos and from the past few months I have been noticing that more and more manufacturers are just pushing out products with glossy exteriors. At first I though that maybe this is just so that large devices such as TV’s that need to be put on a wall or on a table and then just be controlled via remote would give the place a classy look. It would stand out thanks to the shiny surface and attract attention easily. Fine, I understand and that is the only point that I can think of that makes sense in practical life.

But this is also true that Shiny glossy things makes one want to touch the shiny surface and just get a feel of the surface. This is where the problem starts, the glossy exterior attracts fingerprints, dust and scratches as much as it attracts attention. People tend to touch these shiny objects and once a couple of fingerprints get embedded, say bye bye to the device’s shiny look. In terms of TV’s and DVD players etc, I can understand, you just clean the surface off with a soft damp cloth and the exterior regains its smooth glossy texture. But what these manufacturers are doing now a days is totally uncanny.

Pick up any new device… be it phones, notebooks, net books, gaming consoles hell even LCD monitors now come with a glossy panel. Yes they look very nice…. Yes they look very shiny.... but only as far as the protective plastic cover is on them. Take it off and Walla your shiny new device is subjected to huge noticeable fingerprints. The general human perception is like I said… if its shiny one would want to touch it. So why handheld devices such as phones and notebooks are being pushed out with glossy panels. They would be kept in hands, and they would get tons of fingerprints on them…. Personally, I have started to get irritated with it… take the notebook out of the case, use it for a while, and then before keeping it back, wipe the fingerprints off so that the next time you take it out, it looks neat and shiny as ever. Why make the glossy panel in the first place if I would be spending half my time just cleaning it….

It gets worse in case of Cell phones, Phones from various manufacturers are also getting glossier by the day. It was one thing that you can save the display screen from scratches and fingerprints using a Scratchguard, but now what ? I have usedquite a few glossy phones myself and frankly speaking I kept cleaning them after every call I made and every sms I sent… I have to be extra careful because these phones are demo units and have to be sent back, but what about an average consumer, would someone spend so much time to clean a phone?

What worse that any scratches on devices with glossy panel stand out like a nasty scar. Think of it, a nice shiny surface, but there is a small line in a different color and without the shine… How bad it would look..

So what’s the best part… Get Scratchguard, screen guards or protective covers…. That would be effective for a while, but no matter how hard you try, your beloved device would get a fingerprint or scratch sooner or later during usage… I just Hope that the manufacturers would reconsider going glossy on every damn thing that they can churn out.. The consumer now is smart and knows that maintaining glossy panels is pain… that Is why more and more people are going for matte finish devices…. I wouldn’t deny the market for these shiny toys is not present, its present at a large scale, but once the shine fades away under scratches and fingerprints, it just feels plain sad seeing the once lively device so dull and scratched.