Vinit Srivastva: 2008

Sony Ericsson P1i

Posted on 6:34 PM No Comments
Labels: Sony Ericsson P1i

Sony Ericssons flagship smartphone has dropped a collar size, polished its brogues and been reborn as a sweet new BlackBerry killer.The Sony Ericsson P1 is based on the Symbian 9.1 OS and runs with the UIQ 3.0 interface. It doesn't boast some revolutionary features, but it's all about the complete set of function it offers.

Sony Ericssons P990i was a feature packed fella Wi-Fi, QWERTY keypad, touchscreen you name it, he did it. But it showed. Every time you went away on business you had to book it an extra seat on the plane.

So in the spirit of Marjorie Dawes Fat Fighters, Sony Eric has put its flagship smartphone on a dust diet and come back fitter than ever.

The new P1i is 25 per cent smaller than its older brother, but still as well equipped as a pinstriped Swiss army knife. Youll get Wi-Fi, 3G, a full QWERTY keypad and VoIP capabilities all running on a UIQ OS.

Mini-QWERTYphobes have the option of handwriting recognition on the 2.6in touchscreen and itll come with 160MB of built-in brains. As with most Sony Erics youll be able to stash some extra in the MicroSD slot should you run out of space.

But dont let your mind stray too far from business; therell be plenty of time for fun at the weekend. The P1 gets a new hint of fruit with support for BlackBerry Connect email and a business card scanner that imports all details directly into your contacts.

When the weekend does finally come, the 3.2MP cam will cope with some casual snapping, there's wire-free music via A2DP Bluetooth, and for fans of the wireless (no, the old kind) theres an FM radio too.

Well have a review for you as soon as one hits our briefcase.

LG PRADA

Posted on 6:31 PM No Comments
Labels: LG PRADA

Worlds Next Top Model High class model, brought to you in association with LG and Prada. How does it stack up next to the other fashionistas?

Bagging a major label like Prada to lure customers away from their KRZRs and Siroccos is a smart move from LG. It’s not the first time a big-name designer has gotten in on the action; D&G spent some time blinging up the V3 and Cath Kidston had a crack at beatifying Nokia’s range a few months back.

But although fashion phones may be easy on the eye, keep in mind that beauty is usually only skin deep – boundary-pushing technology is often noticeably absent. Compromises of usability are regularly found: oddly placed buttons for design symmetry, ridiculous hinging mechanisms and unintuitive software are all commonplace in the race for beauty.

Of course, hi-res snapping and swift web-browsing are not what these phones are about – their real purpose is to look so good that they draw a collective round of 'oohs' every time it’s whisked from your (probably equally designer) pocket. And on this level, the Prada certainly suceeds; its slippery, black exterior screams catwalk chic while remaining a size zero – just 12mm thick and weighs only 85g.

Switch it on, and the massive screen lights up with brilliantly detailed menus that dance before your eyes – you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. The sparkly interface runs on Macromedia Flash and, despite all the neat animated touches, navigation remains straightforward thanks to shortcuts on the main screen.

The camera, too, is a pleasant surprise; it may only be a 2MP job, but the Schneider-Kreuznach lens and autofocus mean that it captures respectable-looking images compared to most 2MP snappers on the scene. The LG is also capable of banging out a decent tune thanks to MP3/WMA support, and gets big plus points for including audio controls on the headphones with an adaptor for 3.5mm jack leads.

The main headline, though, is the 3in touchscreen which acts as a full substitute for a standard keypad. Number dialling, texting, menu navigation – the lot, basically – is achieved via delicate strokes of the display, a good nine months before the iPhone will appear on the scene.

But it’s here that the Prada’s flawless complexion begins to reveal a couple of wrinkles. The manual specifically forbids you to operate the screen without clean, dry hands, a move that will surely force users into a frenzy of Howard Hughes-style hand-washing. Oh, and those who favour warm digits will be dismayed that use with gloves is off the menu too – unless fashionably fingerless of course.

Each tap of the screen takes a fraction of a second longer to register than it would on a conventional keypad, meaning that blurry-thumbed SMSing is a no-no. In order to scroll through the T9 dictionary it’s actually much easier to adopt a two-handed technique, but even then the sausage-fingered among us may still struggle.

Let’s not mess around too much though; the Prada is a damn good-looking handset with some seriously flash features. In terms of what you can walk into a shop and take home today, the KE850 will sate the craving for style like nothing else out there.

Apple iPhone

Posted on 6:58 AM No Comments
Labels: Apple iPhone

Trust Apple to build the hype. I’ll bet no one and their uncle can do what Apple did with the iPhone. First call a press conference and give a stylish walk through of the phone features. Jaws on the floor, its Apple, baby. Everyone starts buzzing about the iPhone and how it is going to be a “breakthrough internet and communications device”. Everyone’s waiting for the next big thing after “electricity and sliced bread”. Everyone wants one. Steve’s rubbing his hands in glee…

The iPhone indeed is a path breaking mobile device and I wouldn’t hesitate to call it the best phone in the world.It has its fair share of niggles, but then, which phone doesn’t? Lets take a better look.

Since this is not your usual hum-drum phone, and has many innovative features in it, I would like to talk about them first.

1) Multi-touch (Watch video)

With multi-touch you can flick, pinch AND tap. To zoom out of a photo, pinch, to zoom in, just reverse the pinching action. It senses touches

by means of an electrical field and allows very natural actions. Supremely functional and all the girls could say was “WoW!” @ 150dB.

2) OS X (Watch Video)

The legendary,sexy Apple OS X on a phone!! You go

tta be kidding me! Well, no I’m not. And somehow Apple seem to have got the whole integration very right. Its very multitasking friendly and

I only wish there was someway to control all the running applications like on Symbian OS.

3) Accelerometer (Watch Video)

This has to be one of the coolest features on the pho

ne! In essence it is a motion sensor, which detects whether the phone is vertical or horizontal. Accordingly it changes the viewing from Portrai

t to Landscape.(only in apps that support it, mind)

4) Proximity Sensor (Watch Video)

This is another cool feature. When you get a call, th

e screen and your cheek make all sorts of contact, and there might be inadvertent touches. So, in order to avoid that, we have a sensor which, during a call, turns of the touch screen and saves battery. How thoughtful.

Now, if I may have your attention, we shall get on to reviewing the phone as I usually do.

Looks,Design and Build Quality

Apple always makes sure that their products might not always have the best of features but they certainly do have gorgeous looks. Nothing different with the iPhone here. Sleek, sensuous and sophisticated. The smooth curves, the

chrome lining, the lightly brushed aluminum finish at the back… its all top notch. It has a solid feel to it and makes for a nice fit in the palm. The heads will turn, don’t worry dahling.. And don’t be too surprised if someone comes and gets too chatty with you. Its a conversation starter in every sense of the term.

Input and Output

The beautiful 3.5 inch 480 x 320 multi-touch screen is the primary input as well as output. It is easily the most stunning display i’ve ever seen on a mobile device. Period. Your fingers are the only way to operate it, and its quite the fingerprint magnet. But it is absolutely scratch resistant, and you can use your shirt sleeve or jeans to wipe it off. Better still, get a good screen protector, and life will be much better.

The on-screen keyboard is the way to enter all the numbers and letters. This one is easily the best on-screen keyboard in mobile history and can easily stake claim to be the best substitute for the physical keyboard. The iPhone uses a combination of dictionary and keymap prediction to help out typing.

There arent too many buttons around on the phone. Just a home button on the front(which takes you back to the SpringBoard or the main screen), a volume and a silent switch to the left and a Sleep/Wake button on the top. Thats it. The multi-touch screen will handle all the rest of the inputs. Thank you,very much. Also, to the top is the sim card tray. You insert a pin and the tray comes out gracefully. But, you do need a pin. Bah.

There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack to the top and Apple provides a pair of ear buds. They are the ones which can be found on iPods with a slight difference. It has a mic-cum-switch. I was really amazed by the size of the microphone and was even more surprised when it turned out to be a switch as well. Apple. Jaw drop inducer par excellence. And the voice quality (according to the people on the other end) was better than the in-built microphone. All the more reason for you to use it.

Performance and the Phone part of it..

Honey, this thing is fast!! There, I said it straight of. That is what happens when you plonk a 620MHz ARM processor and 128MB of RAM in a device which probably took lessons on “how to be anorexic” from Angelina Jolie. But such specs are a necessity when you look at that beautiful interface. I just cant stop emphasizing how fast it really is. The time taken from clicking the picture and saving it takes all of 2 seconds. Booting up in less that 10 seconds. Instantaneous firing up of any application. I could go on and on, but you probably have got an idea.

Battery life is just too good. The claimed figures are 8hrs of talk time and around 20hrs of music. I havent tested it to such levels yet, but other reports tell me, that actually is the case. Which is all too good. The iPhone wont demand a run to the wall socket for its cuppa every day even under heavy usage.

Now, let me get on to the phone part of it. Its quite simple to make and recieve calls on the iPhone.(Watch Video) The only problem is finding contacts in the address book, because it has no physical keyboard and neither do you have search. You can either flick through contacts or use the alphabet index on the right,which makes it a tad easier to get your contacts. One good thing is that, the faster you flick your finger, the more contacts it traverses. So you can jump down some 50 contacts in one flick.

Voice quality through the earpiece is nothing remarkable. But those at the other end reported a crisp voice.

iPod

The iPod part of the phone has been given a complete overhaul. And like Apple is advertising, it is the best iPod to date. The media integration is extremely good. Plug it into iTunes, and you’re done.
Fire up the Pod from the SpringBoard and just twist it to display in landscape mode. Now you can witness one more of Apple’s gems, CoverFlow. The effect is similar to shuffling CD’s in your own rack. See the pic below.

If you want to play a song from a certain album, just get it to the middle of the screen by flicking it and tap on the album cover once. The album cover will rotate smoothly to display the tracks in that album, tap it once to play your song. (sigh, why cant we have such eye-candy on other phones..). The audio quality is just as on the iPod’s and we wont get into the “Apple ear-buds, suck or not”, debate. Thats personal taste and for you to decide.

The jack provided is a standard 3.5mm jack, but its recessed. Thin pins will easily fit,but if your pin is on the fatter side, you will need an adapter to fit in your own ear/head-phones into it.

Camera and Internet

The camera is a 2.0MP unit. You can just click and watch the shutter animation. Thats about it. The image quality is pretty good, considering the fact that, there are no settings, whatsoever.

Surfing the net on the iPhone is a joy! Rendering is spot on, and the muti-touch gestures are applicable here too. Safari works for me and the speed on the Vodafone EDGe network is perfectly usable.

Time to Crib!!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!! Apple usually are perfect at whatever little they do. Hence, I take immense pleasure in bashing them up. So why did Steve & Co. decide to give the MMS feature a skip?? And no 3G as well. Whats so “breakthrough” about not having 2 of the most basic communication options which everybody is offering. No video recording either. Also, why cant I pair to any other device to transfer at least photos and stuff, if not music.

Also, the camera should have had some more settings and a larger pixel rating. 3.2 is the de-facto standard these days. But, I think most of these problems will be solved by means of Firmware updates. Or maybe the next generation of iPhones. Which was precisely why I chose to buy the SE P1i and not the Apple iPhone.

Whats Hot

Seamless design
Multi-touch, accelerometer, proximity sensor
OS X on a mobile device!
Awesome interface
Amazing Media Player
Great Internet Experience

Whats Not

No MMS
No 3G
AT&T only (can be hacked, not much of an issue)
No custom camera settings
No native 3rd party application support (this too can be worked around)
Screen prone to finger prints (slap on a screen protector as soon as you buy it)

Whats in the box? Phone, USB cable, Wall socket, wiping cloth, USB docking stand, manual.

Price (8GB, all taxes inclusive)

US $450
India 30000/- onwards (not officially on sale)

Conclusion : The iPhone is an amazing device and it has certainly raised the bar in many aspects and the way we go about managing our business on a phone. One more thing it has successfully managed to do is that it has pushed every other manufacturer back to the drawing board. Expect better phones from everybody now. This is going to be good in the end for, you, the consumer. Till then, chew the Apple!

Source: http://www.satishsays.com/

HP dv6000t Laptop

Posted on 5:19 AM No Comments
Labels: HP

Large for your daily needs, this PC of book is packed with very that you would obtain in an office computer, plus the suitability of mobility without wire. To configure your book with a devoted chart of graphs and to charge the Web pages video multiples and it running without slowing down your hard order. To add the completion of impression of HP for the model and longevity, plus the optional webcam integrated into the stay in the contact on the outward journey.

HP dv6000t CTO Notebook Specifications:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHZ with 4MB L2 Cache) “Merom”
Hard Drive: Fujitsu 120 GB SATA -5400RPM
Screen: 15.4″ LG Phillips “LPL” WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce Go 7400, 128 MB Dedicated + 128 MB Shared
RAM: 2GB 667MHZ DDR2 SDRAM

Addition: HP Imprint Finish + Microphone + Webcam
Optical Drive: Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer with Lightscribe
Battery: 6-Cell Lithium-Ion
Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11 a/b/g + Bluetooth
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/ Upgrade to Vista Business
Dimensions: 1.0” - 1.69” (H) x 14.05” (W) x 10.12” (D) (Weight: 6.09 lbs)
Ports/Slots: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire 400); 3 USB (USB 2.0); 5-in-1 memory card reader; VGA monitor out port; S-Video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; Express Card; IR receiver; Expansion Port 3; (2) headphone/speaker jacks with SPDIF
Accessories:HP Expresscard TV Tuner, and Mobile Remote Control.

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Sony VAIO CR220E/N - Core 2 Duo T7250 2 GHz - 14.1″ TFT

Posted on 5:16 AM No Comments
Labels: Sony

Description: The Sony VAIO CR220E / N is 5.5 pounds, mainstream notebook computer. Compared to other at the level of consumer notebooks on the market, it is relatively inexpensive at about $ 1250. A Wi-Fi (wireless connectivity) interface.
Advantages: Has a hard disk of 200 GB, which is considerably larger than some notebooks as a prize. In fact, the average cost of a product with this large equipped with a hard drive is $ 1770. Also, this notebook has 2 GB of RAM, which is a little more in the same way the price of notebooks. By way of comparison, the typical cost of a product with this large RAM is $ 1795.
Cons: Has an integrated media bay housing, which is somewhat less favorable than some Similarly, the price of notebooks. For example, the Lenovo ThinkPad T60, a laptop 5.5 pounds to about $ 1, 320, has a plug-in module media bay. The Sony VAIO CR220E / N comes with no-frills word processing software - serious business or those who may wish to upgrade to a real office suite. Graphics-intensive applications (such as texture-rich games, DVD playback and video editing) will hamper performance on a system that relies on shared video RAM.
Suitability: Ideal for those who just need a notebook. Comes with a DVD recorder, allowing you to convert home movies from your camcorder to DVD. You can use software video delivered to compile and edit movies downloaded from a digital Handycam. If you have a wireless network at home wirelessly surf the Web from any room in your house with this Wi-Fi notebook.
Value: Given its relatively inexpensive price, this notebook has good characteristics of the money.
Suggestions: (1) Given this device Wi-Fi capabilities, you can get a wireless access point for your home, so that you can more easily navigate the Web from any room. (2) Using this PC FireWire (1394) port, you can connect to many digital video cameras and other equipment to quickly transfer data to the hard disk. (3) This notebook supports USB 2.0, which allows the rapid transfer of data between devices. (4) For help in deciding if this is the right laptop for you, see CNET’s buying guide for notebooks

Dell Inspiron E1505 review

Posted on 5:13 AM No Comments
Labels: Dell

If you tried to go to the Core Duo cheap then wait any longer. PCMAG just broke their choice of the publisher’s list price 15.4-inch pan Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. Good reason too, as their model test $ 999 shipped preinstalled with XP Media Center Edition 2005 (TV tuner costs), sports a 1.67GHz Intel Core Duo, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 80GB disk (5400rpm), 802. 11 b / g dual layer DVD, and ATI Mobility Radion X1300 graphics — not top of the line by any means, but oodles better than many of those incorporated craptops graphics, and better chance of succeeding with some pep Vista. PCMAG E1505 is the “perfect” for people on a budget who “appreciate technology”, which roughly covers just about everyone we know. Knocks? Of course, the battery only managed about three hours and you must enter a goofy Dell E-Value code “E1505PC” when ordering if you expect your kit with ring that sub grands prix. Righteous price for this comprehensive and powerful kit.

Dell XPS M1730 Gaming Laptop

Posted on 5:09 AM No Comments
Labels: Dell

Dell XPS M1730 Gaming Laptop Now With GeForce 8800M GTX SLI

One of Dell’s most powerful (and more expensive) portable game, “XPS M1730,” has just received an upgrade graphics. For $ 3399, it now comes with two 512 MB nVidia GeForce GTX 8800M graphics engine SLI mode. Snacks you can not remember, the older version (which costs less than $ 700) is packed with double GT 256MB GeForce 8700M. According to the company’s team performance, this update provides about 49% performance increase (13500 in 3Dmark06 score of reference) compared to its predecessor.The new XPS M1730 premium portable game hit the stores in February 20th. Customers who have already purchased the 8700M GT version will soon be able to upgrade on 8800M GTX. [via]

Dell Latitude D531 Notebook Review

Posted on 4:59 AM No Comments
Labels: Dell

Budget users search for a business class notebook at an attractive price can opt for Dell D531.
Dell Latitude D531 is the most affordable all Latitude D Series, and is the only Latitude D to come with an AMD processor that is running on Intel platforms.
As a business-class notebook, it offers features such as security and difficult to build. The chassis and liquid crystal display rear are designed with magnesium alloy reinforced steel.
For security, Dell Latitude D531 comes with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip security and Wave Embassy Trust Suite to manage the TPM and control of security policies.

As the D531 is in charge of the budget of companies and end users expect to compromise on certain characteristics. For example, Dell Latitude D531 does not come with an integrated card reader, not even a SecureDigital card reader. However, the positive side, it does come with integrated Bluetooth connectivity.

The review also does not come with many pre-installed software, but you can choose to add in Microsoft Office 2007, Norton Internet Security or McAfee Security Center when you make your order.

However, Dell Dell system includes Assistant customization which explains how users connect to the Internet, learn about gadgets and sidebars, find product support and documentation and data transfer.
Dell D531 retains a minimalist design. Besides the power button, there are only another button, which is the switch to the wireless network and Bluetooth connection.
In addition, you’ll only see the hard drive, caps lock and locking digital indicators light beside keys and speakers on each side of the keyboard.
Much of ports and connectors are located at the rear of the notebook. The parties have only two of the four Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, microphone and microphone jacks, the IEEE 1394 port and the PC Card slot.
There were no problems when he came to use the D531. Applications open without any delay and 22 MB TIFF image opened almost immediately in the Windows Photo Gallery.
Using Windows Movie Maker while the antivirus software checks the hard disk background is also a good experience, without jerkiness in the video or delays when it comes to add effects and transitions.
The screen is nice and clear and colors came out nicely.
Dell Latitude D531 also comes with an ambient light sensor, but I preferred to use my own settings. Typically, the screen is bright enough for any ordinary desktop environment. However, speakers were not so hard. You need to crank the volume all the way up, and even in this case, it is just strong enough to your personal space.
On average, the battery lasts a little over three hours, using the balance Power Plan. Users can choose between the energy saving plan and a plan for high performance.
The cable network internal card is disabled when the cable network is disconnected, thus putting the notebook battery.
The review unit, however, is not the basic configuration that Dell offers. This unit come with AMD Turion 64 X2 TK-55, Windows Vista, a gigabyte of memory, 80 GB hard drive, DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive, Dell Wireless 1390 (802.11g) Wi-Fi and a 14.1 inch display.
Also, there is an option to go with a 15.4-inch screen with TrueLife technology which includes the wireless network 802.11a/g/n specifications.

Dell Latitude D531 May be a large notepad to the ear around, but it fits the criteria if you’re looking for a business notebook with solid security features and build an affordable price.

[via] [Dell Latitude D531 Notebook Review]

New Faster & cheaper MacBooks

Posted on 4:33 AM No Comments
Labels: Apple

Today Apple closed their store of Apple for shorts while and when they opened they had made some small changes with the characteristics of MacBook and the information of the prices.
“The MacBook is a huge hit with customers, and is one of the reasons that Mac sales are growing three times faster than PC sales,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The new MacBook is faster, has even more memory and storage, and is an ideal notebook for customers’ growing library of digital music, photos and movies.”

The 3 ‘new’ models are:

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, 80GB - $1,099

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook, 120GB - $1,299

The 2.16 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook, 160GB - $1,499

As before you can of course get a factory upgrade from start with up to 200GB hard drive and up to 2GB of RAM.
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